


The Rain'll Be Gone in the Morning

by hesterbyrde



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Hot Chocolate, Hurt/Comfort, Morning Sex, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sex, breakfast makes everything better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-08-26 01:40:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16672354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hesterbyrde/pseuds/hesterbyrde
Summary: "Do you like marshmallows in your hot chocolate?" She asked after she'd spent a few moments stirring the pot on the stove."Marshmallows?" Loki inquired."Yeah, I guess they're candy? But they're fluffy and chewy and-""I know what a marshmallow is." Loki cut her off. "It's just… It's a strange thing to worry about given the circumstances.""Circumstances?" She chewed on the word. "You mean the Snap? Everyone going poof?"He merely nodded in response.Darcy sighed."Look. I know it's been like… zero time for you, but it's been a couple of weeks for me and everyone else. The first three days I spent in a continual depression nap which I was able to shake myself out of only when I was given something to do, which was what you found me doing up on the roof. And that's just been the MO for me and most of the people around here since then. I focus on little things because if I focus on big things I'm going to unravel like a cheap Christmas sweater. And I can't do anything about the big stuff anyway. But I can help look for people who can do something about the big stuff. And I can give you marshmallows in your hot chocolate. That is, if you want marshmallows in your hot chocolate."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [musicnerd88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicnerd88/gifts).



> Hi everyone!
> 
> Welcome to my very first foray into writing for both this pairing and for Darcy Lewis in general! This fic is a gift for my very dear friend. Originally, I was aiming for around 5k but... yeah well, you see what happened. It got a little out of hand. But I had so much fun writing it. Cheers love! I hope you like it!
> 
> The fic title and lyrics are from the song "Lullabye for a Stormy Night" by Vienna Teng. 
> 
> Many thanks to KaminaDuck and Sherlock913 for the beta reading! You're the absolute best.
> 
> And thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it.

***

_Little child, be not afraid._   
_The storm clouds mask your beloved moon,_   
_But its candlelight beams_   
_Still keep pleasant dreams._   
_I am here tonight._

***

The Snap had happened and everything generally sucked now.

One second everything was fine, if a little nail biting because spaceships in New York and alien-dog-things invading Wakanda, but all that sort of seemed like another day at the office. Y'know… if your dayjob includes things like alien invasions, interstellar wars between deity-like extraterrestrials, two super-dudes having a marital dispute that levelled an airport, and whatever the fuck went down in Hong Kong with all those people that looked fresh off a Harry Potter set. Yeah… just another day in that type of office.

But then… 

Then, there was a fateful snap of some purple shitlord's fingers and _poof._ Half of everyone in the whole universe disintegrated. Just… they were gone. There wasn't another way to say it, was there?

Or maybe that was just an easier way to say it.

Snapped. 

Dusted.

Gone.

But not dead. No one was saying dead. Not on the news. Not in polite conversation. Not even in hushed moments of private despair. They were just gone. That was all.

Just gone.

The Snap struck the Avengers facility in upstate New York just like it did everywhere else. Half the staff and resident technicians… poof. Dust in the wind. Jane Foster was gone. So was Ian. In the lab, all that was left was Selvig, a handful of lab techs...

And Darcy.

Poor, bewildered and freshly orphaned Darcy, if a twenty-three year old could be orphaned. That was certainly how it felt anyway. Her parents got Snapped, though it took a few days to work it out for sure. The area they lived in was pretty rural, but she'd finally gotten in touch with a neighbor and confirmed it. They'd found piles of black ash in the kitchen. Three of them. So Thanos quite literally got their little dog too.

Back in upstate New York, everyone had gotten word at HQ about their Avengers comrades in pretty short order. Who was alive and who had turned to ash. At least they'd heard about the ones that had been on Earth at the time. Iron Man and Company were still MIA out in space somewhere which was not a wholesome feeling. And Darcy figured that if Thor kept true to form, it wouldn't be long before he ejected himself from the planet as well, in search of… of something. Fuck knew what. Some way to help, she guessed. Because that was Thor. And that was the Avengers. They could do shit. 

Darcy… not so much.

For the first few days after it happened, she had just stayed in her room buried under a pile of blankets. She slept whenever her body would fall asleep which was most of the time, and she lived off the protein bars and junk food she kept stashed in her rat's nest of a bedside table. She'd occasionally check her social media, hoping against hope that maybe this shitshow had just been a passing thing. Something the bad guy did and then the Avengers quickly undid because they were cool like that. Like with Ultron, and with Loki and the Chitauri… The Avengers were just cool like that. 

They were cool like that, right? 

Apparently not, it seemed, as the days stretched on with no sign of change. And no sign of a plan either. At least none that Darcy could see from the shuttered dark of her apartment bedroom.

On what she hazarded to be day three, a tentative knock sounded at her door. She padded over to answer, only dimly aware that she couldn't remember when she'd last showered or put on this particular pair of pajamas. When she opened the door, the flourescent light of the hallway made her squint and recoil a bit. It turned out to be Selvig wearing an expression that mirrored how she felt. Exhaustion without exertion. Profound emotional hurt that had no outlet. And he probably hadn't showered in awhile either. Or eaten anything that didn't come in plastic.

"Hey." he said, a rougher-than-usual scratchiness in his words. "You might want to get dressed and come downstairs. We've got visitors."

She swallowed at the musty taste in her mouth. "Visitors?" Her little-used voice sounded as ragged as his. 

"The Avenging kind of visitors." He said, his mouth pulling in something that was trying to be a smile.

"Oh." she said, perking up a little. "Okay. Let me… yeah, I'll be right down." And she closed the door to drag a brush through her hair and find clean clothes. Fuck, who knew when she had done laundry last...

Their Avenging visitors turned out to be Rhodey and Bruce Banner. They addressed the remaining Avengers facility staff and gave them a slightly more detailed reader's digest version of the unfortunate events in Wakanda, and while they didn't come with answers or solutions, they did come with the next best thing. 

Something to do. 

And that something was search for Iron Man, Spiderman, and Dr. Strange who were still very much missing out in space somewhere. Assuming they weren't dust. And apparently they were assuming exactly that until proven otherwise. They'd left Earth on a ship, and even if some or all of them had been turned to space dust, the ship wouldn't have been. So they were looking for that ship until further notice.

Wakanda was already on the case, but space was big, and so the more eyes searching the better. Even Darcy with her three quarters of a poli-sci degree knew that. (So she hadn't gone back to school for her senior year. Big deal. Which would anyone rather do… go deeper into debt taking macroeconomics at 8am and Gender Studies taught by a straight white man, or get free room, board, and food, along with a tidy paycheck working at the Avengers' HQ? Darcy might suck at math, but she could sure as fuck do that math.)

So once Banner and Selvig got some lab equipment and laptops calibrated, and set up some satellite dishes on the roof, it was around the clock shifts watching screens tell them nothing besides where Tony and Company were not. Darcy took the graveyard shift the most often. Her sleep schedule was already fucked to hell from her three day long depression nap, so she figured that she might as well take advantage and cut everyone else a break.

And that's how two weeks passed without her really being totally aware of it. Their new marching orders dictated their new routines. And for Darcy, it became a world of dutiful sameness. All the days were alike… more often than not spent asleep. And nights were not much more varied. Same signals being beamed out into the solar system. Same complete lack of any response. Same cold hamburgers in the caf (good hamburgers, mind. Definitely better than the caf at Culver. And again… free). 

Same same same...

Until one night, when it suddenly very much wasn't.

***

_Little child, be not afraid._   
_The rain pounds harsh against the glass_   
_Like an unwanted stranger._   
_There is no danger._   
_I am here tonight._

***

Darcy wasn't dozing. She wasn't. She was just resting her eyes. The screen of her laptop was starting to give her a tension headache and she just needed a break. Just a minute to close her eyes. She'd hear the alert noise if they'd found something. Not that Darcy expected to. It wasn't that she'd lost hope exactly. She was just slowly settling into the idea that it wouldn't be her that heard back.

She'd stretched out on her back up on the roof of Avengers HQ, because that was totally a normal place to be. But it was nice up there with the satellite dishes, now that the weather had turned cooler. Especially with the rumbly storm clouds off in the distance, and a wealth of stars overhead, perforating the moonless sky. And the wind felt good after being cooped up inside all day (no one's fault but her own). 

Maybe it was just being up so high or knowing no one was going to wander by randomly, but being up here made Darcy feel somewhat separated from what had happened. For the span of her eight hour shift watching signal attempts scroll by on her computer screen, she could just pretend the world hadn't gone to hell a couple of weeks ago. She could hear the sweetly distant thunder and pretend it was Thor off smacking the shit out of Thanos in an effort to bring back everyone that had poofed. It was a nice fantasy anyway. Certainly made laying there, watching failed connections happen on a laptop feel a little more empowered. She was helping. It was nice to have something to do even if it still felt like a whole lot of nothing.

She was about to let her eyes truly slip closed when a shimmering ribbon of acid green light appeared in the darkness, making her sit bolt upright. For a moment the light just was… twisting and fizzing in the air like a dancing serpent before it began to spread outward as if it were burning through the darkness. And out of what appeared to be a green-rimmed fissure in reality stepped, or rather stumbled really, none other than Loki.

The soundproofing on the Avengers facility must've been godly to have drowned out Darcy's initial scream. If they ever did find Tony Stark, Darcy might need to have a word with him about the concept of "over-doing it."

Loki stepped out onto the roof as the dark void from whence he'd come seemed to stitch itself back closed behind him. He was panting hard as he turned in a slow circle, seeming to mutter to himself as he took in his surroundings. Darcy wasn't sure what he was saying. She couldn't exactly hear him over her shrill screeching. He never looked at her, but he did look up. Looked around. Looked out over the darkened landscape, starting as a flash of lightning prickled out over a distant thunderhead. And eventually she did hear him talking when she stopped for air.

"I… Thor… I… where am I? It… It worked, I think. Thor? Thor? Are you- WOULD YOU STOP SCREAMING!"

Loki rounded on her, the glare from his bright green eyes cutting her screeching off into an abrupt squeak. He squinted upon seeing her, a glint of recognition sparking.

"You…" he said taking a step closer, sending Darcy skittering like a crab up the sloped roof. "I know you."

"N-no, you don't." Darcy mewled pathetically as she grabbed for her taser before realizing with another stab of primal panic that it was back in her room. Because honestly who takes their taser stargazing? So instead as she scrambled to her feet, she pulled out her phone because she did at least have that. She could text Rhodey. Could he get the suit on and get here before she got turned into mulch? Maybe she should text Banner instead. He could Hulk out and be here faster than- wait, they said that didn't work anymore, didn't they? That meant he had to clamber into a suit now too. Fuck, this is just what they need right now. First Thanos, and now this asshole. Shit was about to get cra-

"Where is Thanos?" Loki asked sharply, still not slowing his advance. 

"Fuck if I'm telling you." Darcy bit back even as she kept moving, inching backwards up the incline an unsteady step at a time. And she was definitely texting both Rhodey and Bruce. Now. Oh my God NOW. Texting them right fucking-

"Has he gotten another stone yet?" Loki impatiently barked the question, a jagged edge to his voice.

Her panicked message was finished, but Darcy's thumb froze over the "send" key. She felt her whole body draw up into a confused frown as she stared at him. "Has he... " she paused and shook her head trying and failing to parse what she thought she'd heard him ask. "What do you mean another stone?" she asked carefully.

"Another stone! An Infinity Stone." Loki gesticulated wildly. "He's searching for them, and he has two and- look, I don't have time to explain the creation of the universe to you. Just tell me. Do you know how many Infinity Stones Thanos has?"

"He has them all, asshole." Darcy practically snarled, finger still hovering over the "send" button on her text. "All…" she quickly counted them up on her free hand. "All six? Six."

Loki stopped dead in his tracks. Even reeled back a bit as if she'd struck him with her words. "All six?" The words were little more than a choked, anemic sound.

"Y-yeah." Darcy dropped the phone to her side, the "send" button still unpressed. "He got all of them."

"Oh no…" Loki breathed the words, his hands flying up to his cheeks.

"He got them all and then-" She snapped the fingers of her free hand. "Half the world turns to ash. That was like… weeks ago, dude. Where the hell have you been?"

All the air in Loki's lungs seemed to leave him in a rush. "Oh no… no no…" he took a step forward again, one hand reaching out palm up and pleading. "My brother. Have you seen Thor? Is he… did he come here?"

She backed up again, but her phone stayed at her side. "Why the hell do you care? Last I saw you, you two were-"

"I don't have time for your ignorant accusations, you simpering bint." Loki's voice cracked like a whip. Or maybe like brittle glass. "Tell me if you know if my brother is still alive."

Darcy swallowed, nearly falling backwards on the incline and almost dropping her phone. She was staggered by the force of his words. Not by his anger, but by the desperation lacing together every syllable. And the look in his shining green eyes… he looked…

Fragile. And frightened.

And another roll of thunder confirmed that description. He flinched on instinct but looked towards it nonetheless with a yearning clear as day. He seemed to ask with every angle of his posture, _Is my brother here? Is that him?_

And now she looked. Really looked. That first punch of adrenaline was fading and she could see him now. See past the initial threat of his mere presence. See his worn leather armor, which was torn and singed in places. See the bruises on his face and hands. And how pale and sickly he looked.

He's a trickster, Darcy reminded herself. THE Trickster if she wanted to get technical. But the questions he was asking… did he really not know about Thanos and the Snap? Did he not… And what harm did it do for him to know that Thor was on Earth, alive, and perfectly capable (now probably more than capable) of kicking his ass?

"Thor's alive." She said, jerking his attention back to her in a flash. "He's in Wakanda. But I have him on speed dial too. So don't try anything."

Okay that part was a lie, but he didn't need to know that.

Loki nodded a little vaguely, ribs expanding in a steadying but still shaky breath before he collected himself and fixed his eyes on her again. "Jane Foster?"

Darcy did the same calculation and figured the truth couldn't hurt, though she frowned a little at that question. "Dust."

Loki nodded again, a little sharper this time. "Does Thor know?"

"Yeah."

"Dr. Selvig?"

Her frown deepened. The man Loki had mentally enslaved… he was asking about him? But again… what did it hurt? "Alive." she answered. "Down in the lab. Or hopefully asleep at this hour."

"Dr. Banner?"

"Alive. He's here."

"So he did make it back?" he said with a slow nod to himself. "And Iron Man?"

Darcy's throat involuntarily convulsed and she shut her mouth so fast her teeth clicked together. Now she was definitely treading on the territory of too much information. She shouldn't tell Loki (LOKI! She was talking to Loki. What the fuck was even happening right now?) that Tony Stark was-

"Dust too, I take it." Loki's eyes narrowed a fraction as he took in her obviously guarded reaction to his question. 

"Missing." She corrected quickly. Better Loki think there was a chance he was still alive than assume he was gone.

Not dead. Gone. That's what everyone kept saying, and by God she wasn't going to argue. Especially not right now.

"Missing?" Loki parrotted with an arched eyebrow.

"He… he got on board the ship that Thanos's cronies arrived in. Disappeared out into space after they tore up New York City. So… he's missing, along with a few other people. We're still looking for them." She gestured at the satellite dishes around them on the roof.

Loki nodded again, staring out into the closeness of the dark as the wheels in his head turned madly. 

Darcy felt her face pull into an inquisitive frown. "You… you really didn't know what happened?"

"Apparently not." he lifted one shoulder in a heavy shrug.

"I don't know if this means anything to you, but it's been like… over two weeks since Thanos got all the Stones and did the Snap. And supposedly the whole universe got Snapped. Where were you that you don't even know?"

"Dead." came the brokenly flippant reply carried on a thin shred of humorless laughter.

Darcy blinked. "You look fine to me." She lied. He didn't really look fine. He looked alive sure, but like he'd been laid up with the flu and then run over by a bus.

"A failsafe." Loki shrugged again. 

"What happened?"

"Thor and Dr. Banner didn't tell you?"

"I haven't seen Thor in person yet, and Dr. Banner is a little hazy on the details prior to him crash-landing in New York because he was all Hulked out. So… no. No one's told me shit."

Loki nodded a little absently. "Thanos's first stop on his crusade was the Asgardian refugee ship, because I had the Tesseract. There was… an altercation." 

"Why in the fuck did you have that thing? You worked for Thanos… you had to know he would be looking for it."

"Because I thought it would be safer on the move. Plus we had the Hulk with us, and I figured from past experience that that's got to count for something." Loki answered before sighing in defeat. "I foolishly thought I could keep it safe. I had no way of knowing that Thanos would already have one of the stones when he came looking for it."

Darcy's squinted at him. "After what you did with it in New York, you expect me to believe that?"

Loki sighed again, even more dejectedly than before. "You can believe whatever you want, I suppose. Most people do. I suppose I've earned that. But of course, Thanos found us, obliterated half our ship, took the Tesseract, and killed me."

"And now we're back to the fact that you're looking kinda spry for being dead." Though the longer she'd been looking at him the more he looked really… stretched. It was more than just the pallid skin and ragged clothes. At his core he seemed like he had been drawn thin… like someone only just beginning to recover from a long wasting illness.

"You think a trickster ever runs out of tricks?" Loki's razor-sharp mouth curled at the edge, even through his trauma and grief. "Granted, it was my last trick in a way. A very last resort to save my own life. I couldn't even save my brother's, but I used it anyway. Coward that I am."

"What happened?" Darcy heard herself ask the question, almost as if it had leapt from her mouth without permission. Was she really concerned about how Loki had managed to cheat death a second time?

Yes, apparently.

"One of my many talents is finding and exploiting pathways throughout the Nine Realms." Loki explained.

"Like that Bifrost rainbow bridge whatever." Darcy vaguely waved her hand.

"Correct. Except I don't have to go through a gatekeeper like Heimdall to do it. I can move undetected throughout… most of the Realms by my own pathways."

"That is a neat trick."

Loki inclined his head in agreement. "Some places it's as simple as a thought and I'm there. Jotunheim. Asgard. These places are easy for me to find. But others have… conditions. One of which is Helheim, the realm of traitors, thieves, and the dishonorable dead."

"Sounds like you'd fit right in." Darcy quipped, earning herself a withering glare that to her credit did not wither her. Much.

"It takes a tremendous amount of energy and focus to get to Helheim any way other than one's own death. I was able to take advantage of my waning life opening the door to Helheim and slipped through before I actually died. Simple enough. But if it's merely difficult to get into Helheim, it's nigh impossible to get back out again save the coming of Ragnarok, which I'm sad to say has already come and gone. It is possible with my craft, though I am severely weakened by the effort."

_That explained why he looked so worn out,_ Darcy thought. "So what was your plan for getting out again then?"

"I didn't have one." Loki replied with a prizewinning smile. "Before my sister's invasion of Asgard, I figured that I would just wait in Helheim for Ragnarok and escape then. But since that was no longer an option I was more or less leaning on my own improvisatory skills. When I made the jump, I just knew I would be alive to make the attempt at escape, and that was a far better situation than the one I was leaving. Thankfully, the death of my dear sister Hela left the place in something of a disarray, so making my escape was somewhat less than hopelessly impossible. A little bargaining and errand running. But I was still very very lucky."

"And now you're here." Darcy said. "Why?"

Loki shrugged and put his hands on his hips. "Because this is where I figured my brother would be."

"He wouldn't have stayed with the ship? With y'know… all of Asgard?"

Loki shook his head. "The ship was a loss. Split in half, and those on our sundered portion had already been slain. Thor would have come to Earth when he realized the threat of Thanos had become real. Had Heimdall send him or… I don't know. Regardless, I'm right. He did come here."

"Not before going and getting some giant fuck-off axe and nearly splitting Thanos in half with it."

"Nearly?"

"Nearly." Darcy snapped her fingers again. "But he's still alive, and like you said… there are worse situations to be in."

Loki's shoulders slumped as he nodded. A rumble of thunder split the quiet, and while he didn't jump this time, Loki still raised his eyes to the horizon with a longing that cut Darcy to the quick. "I'm sorry." He half whispered as the thunder faded.

She blinked hard at that. "Huh?" she responded lamely.

"I'm sorry." Loki repeated a little more fervently. "For my part in all this. For my part in everything. Years ago, when I joined Thanos's crusade I didn't know his plan. I didn't know about the Infinity Stones or his mad scheme to bring "balance" to the cosmos. I just wanted my throne, and he promised me one." he sighed loudly and derisively shook his head. "I was a fool."

That got Darcy's finger back on the send key right quick. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Why are you even here now that I've told you where your brother is? Why don't you just… pop yourself to where he is?"

Loki's sharp face pinched in on itself as he glared at her. "Do you have any inkling in that simple head of yours how difficult it is to come back from the dead? Let alone from Helheim. My power is by no means gone forever, but at present I won't be "popping" anywhere. Not without time to recover."

Darcy swallowed. "Oh."

A beat of silence passed, punctuated by another roll of far off thunder.

"Where did you say my brother was?" Loki asked, gentling his voice with obvious effort.

"Wakanda. It's in Africa."

"How far?" 

"About fourteen hours by plane. Ten if you've got a Quinjet though I doubt anyone's going to lend you one of those."

"I see." Loki's eyes dropped to where he'd wrung his battered hands together.

Darcy sighed, letting her phone fall back down to her side again. She glanced down at the screen. 

**Loki is on the roof! Help!**

All typed out and ready to send. War Machine and The Hulkbuster armor would be up here in no time and…

She looked back up at the Asgardian, watching him turn in a slow dejected circle, obviously contemplating his options. And listening with equal parts fear and yearning to the sound of the distant but approaching storm.

With a slow exhale, Darcy deleted the text.

"Come on." she said, pocketing her phone and going for her laptop.

He looked back at her. "What?"

"I said come on." She knelt to begin zipping everything up into her ratty backpack. "We've got a comm link to Wakanda down in the lab. It's daytime over there anyway so your brother will probably answer or at least there will be someone awake to get him for you. Besides, it's getting cold up here. And it's about to rain."

Loki opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then closed it once more as Darcy packed up her things. When she had her bag over her shoulder she turned to see him still rooted to the spot.

"Are you just going to stand there doing impressions of my pet goldfish or are you coming with?"

He blinked a few times and gave a small shrug. "Lead on, um… Darcy, was it?"

"Yeah. It's Darcy." And she actually smiled. For maybe the first time in days.

They worked their way down from the roof and snuck in the side door nearest the labs. Darcy had hoped that the late hour would mean everyone else would be asleep. They might have some lab techs to deal with but nothing maj-

Nope. Bruce Banner AND Dr. Selvig were both scouring over lines and lines of data coming back from the satellites. Because of course they were. Apparently insomnia was the new fad around here.

"Shit." Darcy hissed, putting her back to the glass and catching Loki across the chest to keep him from stepping into view. He cut her a quizzical look as she wracked her brain for ideas. "Alright, look just… if you want to talk to your brother, the comms are in there." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "But so are Dr. Selvig and Dr. Banner. So I guess… I guess just… follow behind me and let me do the talking. I'll… yeah. Just let me do the talking."

"Lead on." Loki gestured, falling in just off her left side. He sounded none too confident in her abilities as a diplomat, but Darcy guessed he didn't have any better ideas. She certainly didn't.

She heaved what was intended to be a calming breath and pulled open the heavy plate glass door with a broad smile. "Hey guys!" She said a little too brightly for post-Snap and for 3am alike. Both the scientists looked up at her over the top of their tablets with arched eyebrows, but neither said anything beyond grunts that might've been "Hello."

"So… we have a visitor." Darcy went on, her tone still far too cheery and syrupy. "But I don't think he's staying long." God, she sounded like a host on QVC.

That got them to look up at her again, and then their eyes slid immediately to the familiar shape filing through the door behind her. There was an instant of disbelief during which no one moved, but once recognition set in their reactions were instantaneous.

" _VERONICA!_ " Bruce thundered as Selvig dove behind a table.

"Wait wait, whoa whoa, _KILL THE MOTOR, GUYS!_ " Darcy eventually resorted to shouting as well with hands upraised. That got everyone silent, except Veronica who was still unsealing the Hulk-buster suit from the emergency vault at the back of the lab. But once Darcy had everyone's attention she continued. "He just wants to talk to his brother."

"Bullshit." Bruce spat, countering behind one of the lab tables his eyes glued to Loki. "You died. Thanos choked the life out of you. I don't remember much from… from all that but…" 

Loki took one step forward hands upraised as well. "Dr. Banner, I swear that-"

"Oh you swear." Bruce mocked, retreating towards the still unsealing vault in equal measure. "Save it. We aren't listening. God, I should have known. Darcy, what the fuck are you thinking? You of all people? You should have called for help the instant-"

"He just wants to talk to his brother." Darcy cut him off. "Seriously guys? That's all."

"And why should we believe that's all he wants?" Selvig piped up, peering out at them from behind the lab table he'd chosen as his hiding place. 

Darcy let the wheels in her head spin for a moment before they caught on an idea. "We corroborate his story!"

"What story?" Bruce asked.

Before she could answer, Veronica cut in. "Dr. Banner, were you in need of my assistance? The vault doors are open." Sure enough, behind him, a hulking rendition of the Iron Man armor stood, peeled open like an onion and ready to be piloted.

"Hang on, Veronica. What story?" Bruce asked.

Darcy turned back to look over her shoulder. "Tell them, Loki."

He sighed a little. "Thanos attacked the vessel carrying the refugees from Asgard."

"Right…" Banner nodded.

"Refugees? What happened?" Selvig asked, standing slightly.

"In short, my sister Hela happened." Loki answered, daring to pace a little closer so he stood just off Darcy's shoulder. "And then a fire giant destroyed the entirety of Asgard. I had taken the Tesseract from the vault on Asgard thinking it would be safer on the move. The whole of our people set out on a cruiser to find a new home, and we were waylaid by Thanos. "

"Y… you gave it to him… didn't you?" Bruce said his face drawing up as he visibly clawed for the memory.

"As a distraction. And then you or… rather, the Hulk attacked him. I thought between the three of us, we might still be able to bring him down, but I was wrong. Thanos is as cunning as he is strong. Especially with the Power Stone already in his arsenal."

"What happened to you then?" Selvig asked.

"I tried to make one last play against Thanos. Made a show of an oath of fealty in order to put myself close enough to plunge my dagger between his ribs. But he knew me for what I am, and, as Dr. Banner so eloquently put it, choked the life out of me."

Bruce shook his head slowly. "I don't know… I mean I remember some of that, but..."

"Look that's why we just call up Thor, and get him to tell the story." Darcy suggested. "If they match, we show him Loki's not pushing up daisies, and… I don't know. We all have a slumber party. And if he's lying… Then I really don't know. That's as far as I've gotten, honestly. I'm not the planning person. I just make the coffee."

Selvig and Banner exchanged wary glances, but ultimately they seemed to be fresh out of ideas as well. Bruce told Veronica that it was a false alarm and got her to fire up the comms to Wakanda. The three of them stood facing the screen and camera, with Loki off to one side as they waited for the call to go through. 

To everyone's surprise, it was actually Natasha who picked up. 

"Hey guys." she greeted with her usual half-smile as she tucked a stray lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Geez… what time is it there? You find anything?"

"Not what we were looking for exactly, but we did find something." Darcy answered, doing her best to sound self assured and confident. Apparently there had been some sort of tacit agreement that she was running point on this. She wasn't sure when that agreement got made because there was not any agreeing on her part. But here they were, so she was just rolling with it. "Is Thor around? Tell me he hasn't hopped off planet already."

"No, he's here, give me a second and I'll go find him." Natasha dipped out of frame and returned a moment later with Thor.

"Greetings, Darcy!" he said cheerily, or as cheerily as anyone managed these days.

"Hey, Thor. So… I've got a question for you."

"Ask away, my friend."

"I sort of feel bad asking but… Could you tell me what happened when Thanos boarded the Asgardian refugee ship?"

His handsome face grew shadowed at the question. "That's… an odd request. Any particular reason if I may ask?"

"Just… corroborating some information we've gotten." she said with what she hoped was a convincingly casual shrug.

Thor's face turned somber and thoughtful. "Thanos was looking for the Tesseract. He knew Loki had it. I assumed he had gained this knowledge by Loki's duplicitousness at first, but… well. Loki produced the Cube, but only as a distraction so that The Hulk might subdue Thanos. Sadly, this was unsuccessful. Loki tried again to placate and distract Thanos with a showy pledge of fealty, but when he made to attack, Thanos used the might of the Power Stone and stopped him with little more than a thought. That was when I knew we were all doomed."

"What happened to Loki?"

"Thanos strangled him." Thor said softly, eyes downcast. "His body drifts with the wreck of the Asgardian ship."

Darcy nodded, pouting her lips with consideration. She cut her eyes over to where Loki stood contemplating the tops of his boots. He glanced up, his eyes hopeful that their stories matched enough to be satisfying. "Close enough for me." Darcy said crisply. "Hey Thor? Check out who popped in over here at Avengers HQ."

She tugged Loki into the frame by his elbow and watched with unrepentant glee at the shock and utter elation that spread across Thor's face.

"Loki! Brother, you're alive!" he shouted so loudly the audiofeed gave a distorted crackle.

"More or less." Loki replied with a humble shrug before a smile split his pale face. "It's good to see you too, brother. I thought you and all our people dead for sure."

"You look worse for the wear. How did-"

"Through Helheim."

Thor's smile faded a little at that. "You're lucky to have made it out, brother. Especially after all the effort you expended to try and bring down Thanos."

"Our sister being indisposed aided my chances. But it was still a near thing." 

"Well… we were just discussing amongst ourselves that it might be best if we returned to the Avengers compound." Thor said, turning to address the rest of the assembled group in the lab. The Wakandans have a great many matters of state to deal with that are not helped by the presence of outsiders. Loki's arrival gives our plan to return even greater urgency."

"You have any specific plans on this side of the pond?" Bruce cut in.

"I would very much like to connect with the wizard order of Dr. Stephen Strange. They might aid in our search efforts. And their libraries might contain lore about the Infinity Stones, seeing as they were long the keepers of the Time Stone."

"I'll see about reaching out to the Sanctum Sanctorum. See if they'd be good with a meeting." Bruce offered. 

"Excellent. I'll regroup with the others and we'll be in the air as soon as possible." Thor said with a cheery grin. Then he cut his warm, mismatched gaze over to his brother. "It is good to see you, Loki."

"Likewise, brother." came the surprisingly sheepish answer. "Safe travels to you."

"See you in about twelve hours." Thor said. "Have a good night."

"Good night." everyone chimed in.

"Well." Bruce sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "I guess we've had stranger house guests in the Avengers Facility."

"I don't think any of them have mind controlled or tried to kill us." Selvig said sullenly, retreating back to his worktable.

"Except for Wanda." Darcy gave Bruce a meaningful look forcing him to concede the point with a shrug. "And her brother Pietro. And Clint technically attacked the place during Tony and Steve's big fallout. And-"

"Fine, we get it. What's your point?" Selvig said impatiently.

"My point is that I'm going to go make us some hot chocolate and find him a couch to crash on somewhere that you won't have to trip over either of us."

Bruce sighed and waved them off. "Fair enough."

"Oh, and if you haven't checked the weather lately, there's a big storm tracking this way, so y'know… calibrations." she wiggled her fingers in the air dramatically. "Come on." Darcy jerked her head towards the exit and for the second time that night, Loki found himself trailing in her wake.

***

_Little child, be not afraid._   
_Though thunder explodes and lightning flash_   
_Illuminates your tear-stained face._   
_I am here tonight._

***

"Do they have hot chocolate on Asgard?" Darcy asked as she stood up on tiptoe to reach the big mugs that Rhodey inexplicably kept putting on the top shelf. She mentally kicked herself for bringing up Loki's homeworld, which had been completely obliterated apparently. Twice over if you thought about it. Probably not the best topic for friendly conversation.

But Loki seemed unperturbed as he drummed his long fingers on the countertop. "Not really, no. The comfort or celebratory drink of choice among Asgardians is usually mead." He wrinkled his sharp nose at the word.

"Can't say I've ever tried it. You're not a fan I take it?" she asked, retrieving the milk from the fridge.

"Not particularly. I don't like having my senses dulled. And my inhibitions need no help in being, well… uninhibited."

"I believe it." Darcy replied as she poured up a sizeable measure of milk into a pan and set it on low heat to simmer. "Well, don't worry. The only inhibition this will dull is the one against curling up in a cozy blanket and watching it rain. Because that's what I plan on doing for the rest of the night."

Loki snorted as he oscillated back and forth on the bar stool. "Shouldn't you already be in bed?"

Darcy shrugged as she rummaged around in the cabinets for the cocoa. "Normally, I'd be on the roof for a few more hours yet. So… no?"

Loki nodded but said nothing more as he watched Darcy bustle around the kitchen.

"Do you like marshmallows in your hot chocolate?" She asked after she'd spent a few moments stirring the pot on the stove.

"Marshmallows?" Loki arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're these… I don't know. I guess they're candy? But they're fluffy and chewy and-"

"I know what a marshmallow is." Loki cut her off. "It's just… It's a strange thing to worry about given the circumstances."

"Circumstances?" She chewed on the word. "You mean the Snap? Everyone going poof?"

He merely nodded in response.

Darcy sighed, leaning on the breakfast bar with her elbows. "Look. I know it's been like… zero time for you, but it's been a couple of weeks for me and everyone else. The first three days I spent in a continual depression nap which I was able to shake myself out of only when I was given something to do, which was what you found me doing up on the roof. And that's just been the MO for me and most of the people around here since then. I focus on little things because if I focus on big things I'm going to unravel like a cheap Christmas sweater. And I can't do anything about the big stuff anyway. But I can help look for people who can do something about the big stuff. And I can give you marshmallows in your hot chocolate. That is, if you want marshmallows in your hot chocolate."

Loki gave a blinking, bewildered smile then. The closest to a real smile he'd gotten since arriving. And a small chuckle escaped unbidden as he spoke. "I would like some marshmallows, please."

Darcy gave him a satisfied nod and turned back to the stove. She finished making their cocoa in silence, choosing the biggest mugs and the fluffiest marshmallows for both of them, and then insisting they take it upstairs.

"Upstairs where?" Loki asked, following her out of the kitchen.

"My suite." she replied. "I've got a whole suite here! Beats the shit out of the dorm rooms at college. Don't even have to share a bathroom."

"Are you sure I won't be intruding?"

"Honestly, you staying in my room will probably be for the best. It'll cut down on the risk of some poor intern or lab tech stumbling onto you in the common area and freaking the fuck out. Or Rhodey. Wait. Shit. Hey V?"

"Yes, Ms. Lewis?" Veronica's prim, synthetic voice answered. 

"Could you please send a message to Rhodey and let him know… in this order please, that Thor and the crew from Wakanda are headed this way and whatever their ETA is. And that Loki's shown up and they're coming to meet up with him. And that everything is fine. No need for the tin can with the mounted machine gun. Cool?"

"Shall I wake him to deliver the message, ma'am?"

"No no no…" Darcy stammered quickly. "Just... Whenever he gets up. Let him know that Loki's here and everything is cool and his brother is on his way. And… and maybe play him the conversation from the comm link earlier this evening? That's probably the best perspective for everyone."

"Yes, Ms. Lewis."

"Thanks V!"

"Not a problem, ma'am."

As Darcy opened the door to her suite, she felt a pang of regret for her cleaning habits. They'd never been good to begin with, but things had only gotten worse after the Snap. But she figured there wasn't much to be done about it now. She quickly got the clean laundry (or what was left of it) off the sofa but didn't bother to turn on any lamps. It was bedtime after all, or it should be for Loki anyway. He'd brightened up a little since arriving, but he still looked pretty worn out.

"I should go… pajamas." Darcy said, setting down her mug. "And I should go find you something to sleep in too. Shit. Maybe I can borrow something out of Selvig's? All that leather is probably really uncomf-"

Loki's face pulled in a smirk before a twist of his wrists summoned a scintillating ripple of the same acid green light from before. This time, it poured over his body from head to toe. Suddenly, he was no longer in his tattered leather get up but in a dark-hued set of matching pajamas.

"Whoa. Neat trick." Darcy couldn't resist reaching out and touching the arm of his shirt to see if she was hallucinating. The fabric was silk, rapidly eating up the heat from both his skin and hers. Loki just smiled amusedly down at her. A look which she returned with a sheepish grin as she pulled her hand back. "Sorry. That was just really cool."

"Would you like some as well?" He asked, a kindly but impish smile pulling his thin mouth. 

She looked down at her ratty jeans and oversized sweatshirt. "You can do that?"

Loki just snorted a small laugh and winked at her. Darcy's vision was occluded for a brief moment by the same wave of brilliant green light and when she looked down she found herself kitted out in a calf-length nightgown in the same dark silk as Loki's pajamas. 

"Whoa." she said again, turning in a circle and watching how the generous skirt flowed around her. "I feel all fancy. I haven't worn a nightgown since I was a little girl."

"I assume it's to your liking." Loki said still smiling like a overly pleased cat, which helped him to look more like himself. More like the Loki Darcy remembered. And that was a strange comfort to her.

"Dude. I think this is nicer than most of the clothes I wear out in public." Darcy said, still twirling as she moved towards the sofa. "Thanks!"

"My pleasure."

There was a nearly blinding flash of lightning as they both curled up on her sofa which backed up to a large bay window. 

"Oh hey!" she piped, sitting backwards on one of the cushions, arms flung over the back as she slurped her cocoa. "We're just in time for the light show! Do… do you mind lightning and thunder? I ask cause of your brother…"

Loki curled himself against the arm rest, both hands making a nest for his mug against his chest. He was quiet for a long while, watching the fits and starts of lightning sputter in the clouds. He made a pretty picture, even though that picture made Darcy feel a pang of something hollow and cold. Even so cozy with a mug of cocoa and his pajamas, he looked so incredibly worn out and sad. 

"It makes me miss him." Loki said finally.

"Well, he's on his way so you won't have to miss him for too much longer." Darcy replied brightly before taking a long sip of her cocoa.

"It makes me miss when we were children." Loki laid his cheek on the top of the sofa cushion and staring up at the occluded sky. "When he and I played and worked together as equals. When I didn't know I was some misbegotten stray Odin happened to take pity on."

Okay, that actually hurt to hear him say. Darcy wasn't sure what she could tell him to make anything about that statement okay, but damned if she wasn't going to try. She scooted a little closer, her face pinched in a sympathetic frown. "You're… hey look. I'm not going to try and parse the family dynamics of alien god-people, because fuck knows I can barely parse my own, even before they all fit in an ashtray. But listen. No one pities you. At least no one I know. Trust me on that one. I certainly don't."

"No." Loki conceded cutting his clever gaze over to her. "You're afraid of me. I'm not sure that's better."

Her mouth pulled thoughtfully. "Some people might argue you on that."

"So you are afraid of me."

"Dude, you kinda made certain of that." she replied. "But… I'm… I'm trying to not be scared? Even though… I mean I do still find myself wondering what you're up to here. Past being prologue and all that."

He gave a very catlike and pensieve blink. "So… why then am I sitting in your apartment drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows?"

Darcy was silent at that question, sipping her hot chocolate and watching as the first raindrops began to collect on her window, dappling both their faces. "You want the un-fun answer?"

Loki only nodded, face half-shadowed as he took a drink.

She twisted in her seat to face him, rocking back on her heels. "Because honestly, I'm not that afraid of you anymore."

"That afraid of me anymore?" he repeated with a cock of his head.

Darcy just shook her head. "We lost, Loki. I don't… I don't think you quite realize the world you managed to pop back into. Thanos won and wiped out half of everyone. I don't know what you're going to do at this point that will make it worse. I believe your story, and I believed it even before we talked to Thor because the alternative is too much and honestly doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And I have to believe that you're here… that you're really here to see your brother, and maybe to help us."

Loki snorted a little at that as he took a drink. "You actually believe I'm here to help? Here I thought no one would be that naive."

"Like I said. What are you going to possibly do to make it worse? And what would be the point? I think "jaded" is the word you're looking for."

Loki was silent a moment before he answered. "My brother told me that I could have been more than the God of Mischief. And so… I tried to be. I tried and failed, ultimately learning for certain as I drew what should have been my dying breath that he was wrong. I'm just a trickster. Always saving my own skin..."

Darcy blinked, and once again the crawling sensation came over her that this could all be a trick. Some machination within a machination to get her closer. To gain her sympathy and thus earn her trust.

And yet.

"Thor wasn't wrong." Darcy felt herself compulsively say. "Because trying still counts for something."

Loki cut his eyes over again, a convenient lightning flash highlighting their deep green color. "Does it?"

"If it didn't, I would have never passed Calculus." She answered doing a little mock fistbump in the air. "Partial credit for the win."

Loki shook his head, but he smiled, and Darcy felt that was progress at least. "Is this what partial credit looks like?"

Darcy stared out the window. The rain was pounding in force now, driven ahead of the wind and making an awful racket as it hammered against the glass. "I think if Jane were here, she would say that we're only halfway through the problem."

Loki snorted dismissively. "I doubt very much that Thanos would see it that way."

If Darcy had rolled her eyes any harder they might've fallen out of her skull. "Yeah well, fuck him. And that tacky-ass gauntlet of his. Look. So you're the God of Mischief and trickery and shit." She shrugged. "That on its own? That's… nothing to sneeze at when you think about it."

"You're right about that." Loki replied, acid dripping from his tone. "I have the power to cross the cosmos with a thought. To cheat death itself. I can even wield not one but two of the Infinity Stones. And it seems I have the undeniable ability to drive away or destroy those I care about. I'm sorry but I don't see how I fit into all this, Darcy."

"Loki, just…" she sighed and flattened her hand on the back of the couch fingers digging into the upholstery in frustration. Then on pure impulse she reached over and covered his hand with her own, which drew his attention to her fully. His skin was cold but mesmerizingly soft under her fingers. For a brief second she let herself get distracted with it before his imploring gaze got her attention again and reminded her that she'd been about to make a point. 

"Look… I don't have a plan." She said with another resigned sigh. "I don't even have the first idea for a plan. I'm not that person. That's Cap and Bruce and all those smart people. That's their gig. I just make the coffee, keep up with the paperwork, and make sure everyone eats once in awhile." she paused for a drink of her hot chocolate, holding up a finger when Loki went to take advantage of her silence to argue. "Hang on. I'm going somewhere with this. See, I know something about the plans we've tried so far. We're not going to beat Thanos by brute force. The Avengers tried and they lost. But they got close. And so did you. By yourself. It took half a dozen people fighting to get Thor close enough to take a swing. And you got not one but two in by yourself. So what I'm saying is… maybe what we need is a little mischief in the mix."

Loki looked at her with doubting eyes and an amused smile. "You really think so?"

She lifted one shoulder in a sloppy shrug. "It's worth considering. Dunno what else we're going to do. Like I said. I'm not the plan person. I'm just calling it like I'm seeing it." she said before downing the last of her cocoa. "Come on. It's later than late and you should probably get some rest before your brother gets here."

"Where-"

"You can have my bed." she said, pointing to the door behind him. "I actually did laundry this week so the sheets are cleanish. Thanks past-Darcy."

"I don't want to impose." Loki said before finishing the rest of his drink.

"You're not imposing."

"But-"

"Imposing would be making me figure out how to fold the couch out, find and put sheets on it… find you pillows, find-"

"Point taken." Loki said. "But where are you sleeping?"

"I've still got a couple hours on my shift yet." She said, standing to retrieve her laptop from her bag from beside the door. "I'm just going to curl up out here and watch nothing happen on this screen."

"Sounds riveting." he said, standing to his feet and heading for the bedroom door.

"It's something to do." she replied rather bleakly.

Loki turned in the doorway, his eyes wide and tightly focused on her as she set up her laptop. 

She saw him looking and smiled a sad, and probably very un-Darcy-like smile. "These days, something to do is better than nothing. I did nothing for three days. Like I said… I'm not the one with the plans or the one that makes with the carrying out of plans. I have three quarters of a poli-sci major and less than a year of experience as a barista before I got roped into this circus. Lately, I'm just grateful there's something for me to do in all this so I'm not just… a hanger-on. I might not be able to do anything about any of the colossal amount of suck we've acquired recently, but I can help find the people who can."

"Tony Stark." Loki supplied.

"That's him. And this little teenage sidekick type he's got with him these days. And that wizard."

Loki nodded, more to himself than to her. "Happy hunting, then."

She looked up from her screen and smiled, hoping the sincerity she heard in his voice was real. "Thanks."

"Good night, Darcy."

"Good night."

***

_For you know, once even I was a_   
_Little child, and I was afraid._   
_But a gentle someone always came_   
_To dry all my tears, trade sweet sleep for fears,_   
_And to give a kiss goodnight._

_Well, now I am grown_   
_And these years have shown_   
_That rain's a part of how life goes._   
_But it's dark and it's late,_   
_So I'll hold you and wait_   
_'Til your frightened eyes do close._

***

Darcy hadn't fallen asleep. She really hadn't! But she would definitely cop to dozing again if pressed. But the notification alarm hadn't gone off from her computer, so it wasn't the end of the world if she was resting her eyes. All she had missed was a whole lot of failure, and she'd had enough of that lately, thank you.

What did rouse her from her sleep was a brilliant white flash of lightning that was blinding even with her eyes closed, followed instantly by a cacophonous stab of thunder. No ripple. No rumble. It sounded like a cannon had been fired right outside her window.

"Holy shit!" she startled awake, sitting up suddenly, nearly falling off the couch and dumping her laptop to the floor. _Holy shit, that was close,_ she thought as she yawned to try and relieve the ringing in her ears. Probably actually struck the building. She'd better check the satellite feeds to make sure they were still running unmolested. 

As she gathered the trailing cords of her laptop and searched around vainly in the dark for her wireless mouse, a soft but unmistakable sound fell on her ears. Heavy, gasping breath coming from her bedroom. From the sound of it, that thunderclap must've spooked Loki too-

_Loki._

"Shit." she swore again, scrambling to her feet and sending everything flying all over again as she scurried over to the bedroom door.

She peered into the darkness to see him sitting bolt upright in bed, half-silhouetted against the window. Another flash of lightning made him flinch and she could see his pallid skin was coated in a thin sheen of sweat as he stared wide-eyed out into the storm. And his chest heaved like a bellows even as he fought to calm himself.

"Hey, Loki? You okay?" she asked, the smallness of her voice wrapped gently around the intimacy of the question.

He turned and looked at her, breaths still coming in heavy pants. But he didn't answer. He just looked at her pitifully with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen (and she'd seen some sad eyes of late) and then he just crumpled onto his side with his back to her.

"Sorry if I woke you." his voice, saturated and thick came up from the tangle of sheets. And Darcy realized the shine on his face wasn't just sweat.

"Hey hey hey…" she said soothingly coming around to the side of the bed where he had his face buried in her pillow. She was already reaching for him as she moved. About to climb into the bed with him when she caught herself. How presumptuous to think that's what she should do. Or that her touching him was what would help. So she froze awkwardly with one knee on the mattress and hands falling to her sides as she scrambled for words. Words were generally okay, right? If she could find good words… what were good words for comforting a frightened demi-god?

_Go with what you know, I guess…_ she thought with an inward shrug.

"Hey, it's alright. It scared me too and I wasn't even asleep." Which was not a lie. Mostly.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." The words were muffled by tears and pillowcase alike.

So tricking the Trickster was clearly something she was going to have to work on.

He waved at her limply, but she caught his clammy hand in hers. She let their fingers tangle together for a second and Loki peered up at her from the shadows of the sheets with eyes that seemed to shimmer and shiver in the sparse light. 

"For the god of tricks and mischief, you're a terrible liar." She replied, her thumb stroking over his knuckles. Was this permission to touch? Was this-

There was another white flash and chasing crackle. His hand seized around hers, turning her knuckles white as he gripped her hand tightly. Desperately...

Fuck it. She wasn't just going to stand here and watch him shudder and flinch every time lightning flashed or the wind rattled the windowpane. So she let the weight of his hand pull her down onto the mattress next to him. Loki rolled closer, pillowing his head in her lap and looking up at her with wide eyes. She could feel him shaking, even through the comforter.

And again, that prickling feeling crept up the ladder of her spine. The feeling that this was a trick. That he was working some advantage. But before she could let herself consider it or talk her way out of it, she just shoved the thought violently from her mind. 

_You know what?_ She thought. _If this is how he gets me, then so fucking be it._

"Hey, it's alright." she said, arranging him against her thigh. "Want me to stay in here until you fall asleep?"

"I don't know if I can." he replied miserably.

"Well, that's okay. You want to try and I'll just hang with you in here?"

"But your shift." Loki sniffed miserably. "The signal you're watching for..."

Darcy checked her phone before setting on the bedside table. "My shift ends officially in ten minutes. If Tony Stark decides to ping us in that ten minute window he officially has worse luck than me."

Loki nodded and settled then, one arm snaking up to fall around her waist.

On impulse, Darcy reached down and combed her fingers through a few locks of his hair, smoothing it back from his face and finding that despite its slick appearance, it was very soft. It trickled over her fingers like water. Or perhaps like ink. And with each pass of her hand, he settled even more into her touch, arching to meet her fingers as they wandered over his scalp.

"You like that?"

He just nodded, eyes falling closed to shutter what appeared to be a myriad of memories of touches like that. Darcy tried not to think about it too hard, and concentrated on the task at hand. It felt good and that was all that mattered right now.

"I used to be afraid of storms." she said. "We lived on the Maryland coast, and when I was ten we got crushed by this massive hurricane. Storms were always a thing if you lived semi-near the coast like we did, but this one was bad. And we knew it was going to be bad."

Darcy was still playing with his hair, but his eyes had opened again. The green of his iris glinted sharply in the shifting light from the window, but he no longer jumped at every flash or rumble. It was as if his arm around her waist was an anchor.

"What did you do? Did you flee?"

She shook her head as she sank her fingers deeper into his hair, watching with some mix of fondness and fascination as he craned back into her touch. "We only had one car, and it wasn't in great shape. So we decided to tough it out in our house. We were up on a hilltop so flooding wasn't a danger. But the wind sure was. We had to board our windows. Stock up on gas… food, water. It was scary. For a ten year old, it seemed like the world was ending. And the more we watched the news, the worse the news got. It wasn't even going to slow down or lose strength by coming inland. The storm was just going to scrape up the eastern seaboard and blow us all away. Or that's how it sounded to ten-year-old me."

"Did you hide?" he asked.

"No." Darcy answered. "I helped prep and plan. Hauled gallons of water and gas. Stocked the deep freezer with ice for when the power went out. I kept a stiff upper lip right up until the first roll of thunder woke me up out of a dead cold sleep. Kind of like tonight."

"So you were asleep just now?" Loki chided with a watery smile that earned him a tug on his hair which he bore proudly. "So what happened when your nerve failed you?"

"I was ten years old, so I did what any self respecting kid facing certain doom would do. I just started crying. And my dad heard me and came in my room. I was small enough that he could pull me into his lap and he just sat there with me. The thunder got closer. The wind started blowing so fast it felt like the whole house was swaying around me. And the rain poured down so hard I thought it might break the glass of my bedroom window. Eventually the power went out. But my dad stayed right there, and he just kept telling me that the rain would pass and by the morning it would be gone. Just like a bad dream."

Loki nodded, mostly to rub his face against the silk of her pajamas like an over-fond cat. "You must've been very close to your father."

"Not really, actually? He was a work-with-his-hands kinda guy. Almost didn't bother finishing high school, except he wanted to play his senior year of football. He always called me a bookworm. But I think he meant it affectionately… y'know? That it was okay that we were different. He and my mom never grudged me anything if it was for my education. I'll never forget the night of the hurricane though."

"Where is he now?"

"Dust." Darcy answered, trying to smile but only succeeding in pressing her lips into a thin line. "Both mom and dad."

"Must be difficult… having a father who couldn't say that he loved you."

Darcy lifted one shoulder, being careful not to jostle Loki as she continued to card her fingers through his hair.

"We may not have been… y'know… sitcom ideal father-daughter relationship… but I knew he cared. That he loved me. I could tell. Especially looking back as an adult now? Seeing the relationships some of my college friends had with their families… the good ones and the bad ones." She pulled a face. "Something I've learned? Never trust what people say. Trust what they do."

"I've done some awful things to you." Loki pointed out, looking up at her with impossibly big and luminous eyes. He really did look like a cat curled up on her hip like that.

Darcy lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah, that's true. But you said things are different now. We're all waiting for you to prove it to us."

Something gleamed in Loki's emerald eye at that. Something sparkling… kindling… the genesis of a thought…

Another flash of lightning rent the sky followed instantly by a crackling boom. Another stroke that sounded like it might've also struck the facility itself. If they were running on anything other than Stark tech, they would have most definitely lost power by now. Darcy jumped, and Loki's arms cinched around her waist as if he might climb her like a tree. 

"It's alright." she said instinctively, still petting his hair. Ugh… this storm was going to be doing this bullshit all night and neither of them were going to get a wink. "Here look." She wriggled down under the comforter until she could tug it up over their heads and pull his arms back around her. "There. Better? At least it won't be so loud. And the lightning won't blind you."

She had expected him to relax down into the pillows, curled up in the little blanket fort. But instead, Loki reached for her and tucked himself against the crook of her neck as his arms crossed across her back.

Darcy willed herself to keep breathing through the shock. To keep petting his hair and murmuring assurances. "It'll be gone in the morning." she soothed as they settled together. "And then your brother will be here!" She let a smile color her voice as she pulled back to look at him, but he didn't let go. He just nodded, huffing out a humid sigh against her throat.

For a moment she worried it was too much. They were pressed so tightly together in their rapidly warming cocoon, but he seemed to only want more. As if he could tuck himself in so tightly that he would disappear into her somehow.

In their heavy fort made of comforter and pillows, Darcy could feel drowsiness creeping over her. There were no more deafening cracks of thunder. Just a distant rumbling that occasionally cut through the steady drumming of the rain. And after awhile, Darcy could feel Loki's body beginning to go slack with sleep.

And since she didn't know what else to do, until she fell asleep she kept whispering into his hair as she smoothed her hand over his back in slow circles. "The rain'll be gone in the morning."

It was something to do, at least. Better than watching satellite signals all night.

***

_And I hope that you'll know_   
_That nature is so._   
_The same rain that draws you near me_   
_Falls on rivers and land_   
_On forests and sand._   
_Makes the beautiful world that you'll see_   
_In the morning._

***

Darcy was awakened by a sharp blade of gray sunlight cutting through the blinds. It was only for a moment though. The newly minted morning sun tucked itself back into the overcast sky before Darcy could even start to squint. Apparently the rain had passed, but it was still cloudy and the sun seemed as enthused as Darcy was about it being morning. 

She hadn't really moved much in her sleep, though she and Loki seemed to have thrown off their blanket fort in the night. And Loki had rolled over, tucking himself against her as the little spoon. Which was awkward given the height difference. But cozy too.

Or it would be, were it not so cold. The overzealous air conditioning in the facility, plus the thin silk pajamas-

Lord, she was still wearing those silk pajamas. They were actually a deep forest green she realized as she watched the slanted beams of muted sunlight play across Loki's shoulder. So beautiful… and personal. And while they weren't exactly revealing or scandalous, there was still something weirdly intimate about the god-spun cloth providing only the thinnest barrier between her bare skin and the open air.

The very cold open air.

Darcy harnessed a shiver to wriggle her shoulders down the mattress a little, and she pawed for the comforter to pull it up around them. She felt Loki stir but he only moved back against her with a soft sound. Once she'd settled the comforter around them, she felt him tangle his fingers with hers and pull her arm snug around his chest as the finest tremor chased over his shoulders.

"It's alright. It's barely morning. Go back to sleep." she said softly. And on an inexplicable impulse she kissed him sweetly between the shoulder blades, feeling the warmth of his skin seep through the silk into her lips. She instinctively hated herself for it. It had been dumb and impulsive, and she'd expected him to stiffen or jerk away. Or… something. It had been a bit much. Just like everything from the last night had been a bit much now that she thought about it. So perhaps it followed that… 

However, Loki just pulled her closer in response so that her nose pressed to the nape of his neck. His fingers, which were laced securely between hers, squeezed so tight that Darcy was certain her skin had turned white in his grip. And then on the joint of her thumb she felt a puff of breath followed by a gentle press of lips. 

Something with teeth seized around her heart, and ground its jaws tighter with each subsequent kiss he laid along the bone of her thumb as Loki worked his way up towards her wrist. Darcy was frozen. Stunned. As if his brother had struck her between the eyes with his hammer.

"It's alright." she repeated the assurance again, though she wasn't sure if it was for herself or for him this time.

"Has the rain stopped?" he asked, the words tickling out over her skin and raising the fine hairs on the back of her hand.

"Look for yourself. The rain's passed. The sun's even trying to shine."

He kissed her hand one more time before rolling to face her. Darcy tried to make space for him, but he caught her as he turned, pillowing his head on her shoulder as he looked out the window. A single stripe of silvery sunlight fell across his eyes, practically igniting them into a brilliant emerald green that caught Darcy's breath. He stared out at the overcast sky, unblinking against the filmy sunlight pouring in, before he shifted his gaze to Darcy's face which was mere inches from his.

They both hung there in the moment, like motes of dust twisting in the sunbeams that bathed their bed. Loki looked different like this, with the morning light chasing shadows from his sharp face. He looked better than he did last night. Less drawn and frightened. He looked peaceful and soft. And young in a way that had nothing to do with age, Darcy couldn't keep herself from quietly marveling at it. Here he was, the God of Mischief himself, curled up like a kitten in her bed. In her bed with her because he'd needed someone to just… help.

And apparently she had. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he couldn't remember the last time he'd truly laid down to rest. That he'd felt safe enough to close both eyes and relax. And it had been her bed that had caught him. And her. And something that coiled deep in her heart told her that this first time wasn't the last time.

"Thank you." Loki said, the words coming out barely above a whisper as he tracked her thoughts.

"For what?"

The exquisite architecture of his face folded into a thoughtful frown. "For not pitying me."

"I told you, no one pities you." She said, settling the painfully beautiful line of his jaw into the palm of her hand. How could she not touch him? When he looked like that and said things to her like that and it all wrung her heart like a dishrag.

Or perhaps crushed was a better analogy. Crushed her heart under the weight of the thousands of years of things she didn't and couldn't comprehend. But she felt compelled to fix nonetheless. Or maybe not fix… She wasn't a fixer. But maybe… maybe she could… help.

Ease.

Comfort.

Or maybe, just for once in Loki's long long life, she could be someone who could just not make it worse. That was a low bar to be sure, but she was pretty certain she could manage that at least.

Once again riding on purest impulse, Darcy leaned forward and pressed her lips against his forehead. Their bodies slipped even closer together under the covers, the silk of their pajamas whispering as they moved. The two of them ended up pressed knee to nose. Could they get any closer without merging entirely? But then Loki turned his head by a fraction. Just enough for their noses to slide side by side and for him to press his mouth to hers.

His lips were warm. That was the first thing that struck Darcy's utterly dumbfounded brain, though she didn't know why she had expected him to be cold. And he smelled sweet… like the rich antiqueness of old books or wood, or even of herbs hung out to dry. He smelled of ancient things and places… not musty, but deep and ponderous.

Ancient and secret.

Maybe it was an Asgardian thing. After all, she had noticed before that Thor smelled like ozone. She'd just assumed that came with the whole lightning powers kit.

But anyway back to kissing. Yes, back to the whole thing where Loki (Again. _LOKI!_ What was really, no really, _EVEN_ happening right now?) was ever so gently kissing a circle around her lips, stopping to drag the barest tip of his tongue against the corners, pausing to catch her Cupid's bow between his lips, and then finally kissing her again full on the mouth. Darcy felt herself make a sound somewhere low in her throat. It had been a long time since she'd been kissed this thoroughly. It had been since...

Well, since ever really. No one on Earth kissed like this, she was pretty sure.

He pulled back then, clever emerald eyes gauging her reaction and likely reading every thought that slipped through her stunned and still slightly sleep-addled mind. _Have I overstepped?_ His eyes seemed to ask this as he smoothed his hands along the small of her back.

Darcy felt her skepticism rear its head, questioning Loki's intentions once more. Surely he had to know that he practically had her eating out of his hand, and so this concern was just for show. Just to beckon her that much closer. To make his vulnerability that much more believable.

But she bashed it back down like she was playing mental whack-a-mole. No, if Loki was going to get her, then by God it would be because he actually made her feel something… _anything_ for the first time in weeks.

And so before Loki could stammer out the question he was clearly intending on asking, Darcy kissed him herself. Full on the lips just as he had done her, though with far less subtlety and grace. She quickly graduated to licking along the seam of his mouth. Go big or go home, after all, and her brazenness was rewarded by feeling him give under her easy as anything. He fell backwards across the pillows as if her kiss had been a sock in the jaw, pulling her with him as he went so that she was half on top of him when he settled. 

Darcy pushed up onto her elbows, bracketing his shoulders and pushing his hair out of his eyes. That broke the kiss for a moment and left them staring at each other again, this time with a mix of caution and undeniable relief. Loki practically preened at her touch, following her fingers and pressing against her nails as she carded them through his hair. She licked her lips searching for the right thing to say, but her higher thought processes were nothing but a big fat black screen. 

What even were they doing? They couldn't blame this on fear of the storm or vulnerability… this was officially something else now.

And the power dynamics here were certainly wildly skewed in all sorts of directions. One of them was certainly the more physically disadvantaged. Even on top, Darcy doubted there was much she could do to fight against Loki save scream to Veronica for help and hope someone got to her in time. But Loki… he didn't look in any frame of mind to overpower anyone. Even Darcy. He was staring up at her, so wildly helpless with want that it made any questions she might ask die on her tongue. What he wanted was so plain as he strained towards her with parted lips and glassy eyes.

So she kissed him yet again. Deeper this time. A slow slip of her tongue over his, enjoying again how he practically fell apart underneath her at the slightest touch. She'd started with just a little lick, or at least it was intended to be just a little lick. She hadn't banked on him hungrily sucking her tongue into his mouth with a needy sound that made the pit of Darcy's stomach ache. And not in a bad way. 

His hands snaked up over her shoulders pinning her against him as he seemed to be trying to eat her from the mouth down. And Darcy was weirdly fine with that as long as it felt this good. As long as he kept sucking on her tongue and licking into her mouth and biting her bottom lip and pulling her down on top of him so she could feel every ripple of muscle and-

_Well then._

Apparently, morning wood was a thing for demi-gods too. Learn something new everyday. And not only that, but Thor apparently was not the only one swinging a hammer around.

As his trapped erection slipped against the hollow of Darcy's hip, Loki sucked in a sudden breath, breaking the kiss to shudder and hide his face against Darcy's cheek. When Darcy pulled back a little, Loki weakly tried to follow, looking as if he had an apology poised on his kiss-stained lips, ready at the first indication of overstepping. But instead, Darcy looked him square in the face gave an experimental roll of her hips, letting his clothed length grind against the plush resistance of the hollow of her hip. 

Color flooded his pallid cheeks as his mouth dropped open into the prettiest little "oh." Darcy felt a smile tug irresistibly at the corner of her mouth at that. If he was playing her, he was making a damn fine show of it, and strangely that actually made her more bold. She eased one hand down the flat plane of his stomach, pausing at the arch of his hipbone to gauge his reaction. But when he canted his hips up, she took the hint. 

A hint they should probably discuss. Y'know… woman to Asgardian prince from space.

_Use your words, Darcy._ she cautioned herself even as she tried to focus past the dazzling green of his pleading eyes and the scalding and slowly grinding sensation of him pressed against her body. She could at least give him what he seemed to want while they talked this out. Assuming she could make words work at the same time.

Darcy slid her hand over a fraction, covering the thickening bulge in Loki's pajamas. If she was touching him there, then she wouldn't have to look, and that was a good thing because the thin silk definitely left nothing to the imagination. Not that she could have ever imagined this scenario.

Loki gasped a little at the contact, his pretty eyes fluttering closed as she stroked him curiously. First with the pads of her fingers, outlining the girth of him from root to tip before sliding him over the ridge of her knuckles. She couldn't help but kiss him again as she did this. Just to taste those sweet little gasps he was giving.

"Do you like this?" Darcy forced herself to speak. Words. She needed to use words. Even dumb words.

Loki nodded, licking his lips to try and speak. A very shivery "Yes…" was all that he could manage as his hands slipped up and down her back. Up and down… up and down as she stroked him up and down… up and down.

"Do you _want_ this?" She asked a little more pointedly.

"Mmmhmm…" the assent ended on a feathery whine.

Then his clever fingers caught on the hem of her night gown, sneaking it up over her thigh. His eyes asked permission, and she gave it with a kiss and one leg snaking over his. His palm met underwear and in a blink it was gone. He hadn't pulled them off. They'd just vanished.

Darcy felt herself gasp with surprise, though it quickly turned to an amused smile. "Okay now _that's_ a pretty neat trick." she said, fighting like hell to keep her voice even.

There was an answering glint in Loki's eyes. "I have more." he said, his voice gone gossamer thin. "Would you like me to show you?"

_Oh good! Mutual consent._ Darcy thought, fighting to stay coherent as his fingers trailed over her skin. _Now we're in business._

"Please." The word came out on a purr as Loki's slender fingers slipped between her legs. She sucked in a startled breath through her nose as the pad of one finger found the slick cleft of her pussy, gliding over the sensitive skin so lightly there was barely any resistance. She hadn't realized she was already that wet, but she was hardly going to question it. Maybe that was another trick. She could be on board with that.

Course it could easily be all her. And who would blame her, really? Loki kissed like a dream.

Darcy spread herself a little wider, resting her knee atop Loki's hip and pulling him with her until they were side by side. She noticed he didn't try to push her further. Only added a second finger beside the first, sliding them forward until they brushed over her clit. She arched against him, her hands seizing at his hips and then on his elbow as she sought to pull him closer.

"Eager are we?" There was still a little glimmer in his eye and a little swagger in his smile, but the anxiety was still there. And more importantly, the wanting was still there. Suddenly nothing mattered to Darcy more than chasing it away. Or giving in to it. Whichever happened to come first. 

Or maybe that should be "Whoever."

"You started it." she snarked back catching his mouth in particularly bitey kiss, as if she could eat the worry from his expression.

He hummed a grudging assent. "I suppose." he said, letting her swallow his words as his finger tips slid back and and back until they began to sink into the slick folds of her pussy. Darcy groaned and Loki leaned in and drank the sound from her lips. "This what you're after?"

Darcy bit her bottom lip and nodded. So much for words. 

Loki's face turned serious again, and Darcy felt the undeniable urge to kiss it. Perhaps serious wasn't the right description. He looked… earnest. Even as his fingers were slipping over her inner walls, searching for the place that would make her cry out and arch.

He found it in short order of course, beckoning over it with crooked fingers again and again mercilessly. "I take it that's it." He said as she gave a thready moan with each drag of his fingers over that spot. It wasn't a question. His keen eyes watched her expression intently as he set up a steady pace. Darcy could hardly stay still after that. She gripped Loki's elbow and practically rode his hand to a frenzied and frankly embarrassingly quick orgasm.

"That one of your tricks?" she asked, a little breathless from the concussive shock.

He shook his head, a ghost of that old cocky smile returning for just a moment. "I'm afraid that was all you."

She loved that smile now, she realized. A few passionate kisses and one positively incandescent orgasm and she'd gone from hating that look to loving it more than air. Or the internet.

"Your turn then." she replied, before sucking his bottom lip into her mouth. "How would you like it?"

Wordlessly, Loki pulled her astride his hips, arranging her so she was close as she rocked herself down onto the stiff length of his cock still trapped in his pajamas.

"You ready?" She asked, watching his face suffuse with a sweetly needy expression again.

He nodded, his eyes gone soft with want like they'd been when he woke up and realized the rain was gone. The similarity gave her pause. It reminded her this was not some half clothed dorm room romp meant to satisfy ridiculous carnal urges and nothing else. This was… different, though she couldn't be sure of exactly how.

But those were ponderings for times when she wasn't lazily grinding on Loki's erection. Darcy worked his pajamas down his hips far enough for the ample arch of his cock to spring free. She contemplated sucking him off for a moment, but he'd firmly put her here. He wanted the intimacy of this, clearly. And if this was what he wanted, then this would be what he got. 

But not immediately. She wasn't just going to swing her leg over and go to town. She had some decorum, dammit. Even when it came to sleepy morning sex with demi-gods. So before she sank down onto him, she swept the comforter up in both hands, pulling it around them both like a heavy cloak. She tucked him in underneath her, squeezing with her thighs and watching as he sank back into the pile of pillows with a sigh. And only then, and so slowly she made herself impatient with it, she slid the lips of her pussy over his cock until the head caught against her slick entrance. She watched his reactions. Watched how still he made himself. How he didn't grab. Didn't pull. He just screwed his eyes shut and waited, a thin moan trailing up from his convulsing throat.

And carefully, she started to rock herself down onto his length.

His eyes fluttered closed as the head of his cock breached her. And after that first orgasm, Darcy found taking him to be remarkably easy. Almost temptingly so. She was in control after all. She could just slam herself down onto him, and ride him like a charging draft horse to another vision-blurring climax, and distantly some part of her lizard-brain cheered in favor of that course of action. But the look on his face made her stick to the original pace. He looked so blissed out at the sensation of her sinking down onto him. And that just made her want to pull the covers in tighter and just hold him.

So she did. She tucked the comforter up further under his shoulders and gathered him to her in a languid kiss as she sank down the final inch to push their hips flush together. She hugged her knees into his sides, laced her fingers into his hair and rocked herself over him, feeling an answering roll of his hips in response. He moaned against her parted lips, baring his teeth as a shiver overtook him from head to toe.

"Darcy." her name was just a puff of suggestion against her cheek. 

"Go on." She encouraged, nosing at his delicate jawline. "Show me what you want. It's all yours."

His hands found her ass through the covers and pajamas, and raked her hips down and over his. The angle was sharp and she whined into his hair, but it wasn't out of discomfort. The pressure… the shift of the gentle curve of his cock against her inmost places… it had made both her brain and her vision go swimmy in her oversensitive state. She followed his hands this time, catching a rhythm with him that had them both panting into the folds of the blanket around them.

"Is that it?" she asked, finding her breath by nothing short of a miracle. God he felt good… Nothing should feel this good. Nothing should feel like lazy morning sex in silk pajamas with too many pillows.

"Just like that." his hands dug into the soft flesh of her ass, urging her on.

His fingers had been good, but this felt like heaven. The soft arch of his erection curved just so against that sweet spot he'd teased and driven her to climax with earlier. She let her hips catch a sinuous rolling rhythm which he answered in kind, following her as if it were some sort of dance.

"Loki…" She felt herself whisper his name as if it were beyond her control. As if this wasn't her body and it wasn't her room and it certainly wasn't her bed. And why would it be? How in the fuck did this situation come to be, with her atop the God-prince of Mischief… the one-time alien conqueror who had come to Earth to enslave the whole planet… giving and receiving the most gentle and attentive fucking of her life.

If he was aware of her astonishment, he gave no sign of it. Loki instead reached up to cup her face, one thumb passing over her plush lips before he drew her down into a kiss. She moaned into his mouth, feeling him match the filthy wonderful motion of his cock with his tongue against the roof of her mouth. It was delicious. It was so sweet and wonderful.

And she was going to come again. Shocking.

She bowed back, letting his hands catch her and hold her as her rhythm faltered. His name was on her lips again, sounding more like "please" than anything else. But he just held her, letting her take whatever she needed. And she did. Her orgasm caught her like an ocean wave, pushing and pulling her in the current of her pleasure, and she was powerless to do anything but float on it.

"Darcy…"

She looked down, finding Loki looking completely wrecked beneath her. His eyes were wide and desperate, and his cheeks stained a lovely rose as his hips still kept their sweetly shallow rhythm.

"Darcy… I want…"

"Go on." she coaxed, using what little coordination she had left to tuck them both back into the nest of blankets. "If you want."

Loki nodded, his thrusts becoming a little more forceful but no less exacting. He buried his face against her chest, breath little more than a shallow pool of needy, desperate sounds. His hands held her hips as he pumped himself inside her a handful of times before he came suddenly. His back bowed up off the bed and his eyes shot wide as he stared up at her. She could feel his length pulsing as he squirmed and moaned and pleaded… 

"Darcy, please…" he gasped out.

He was coming but still begging. What...

Darcy didn't quite know what to do in the face of vulnerability like that. But she felt compelled to stroke his face. To kiss his cheek as he emptied himself out inside of her. To tighten the covers around them both as they caught their breaths together. She hugged her knees in and smoothed his hair and just held him. And were it not for the filthy slide of his softening cock between her legs, she might've thought the whole thing sweet and chaste.

"Feel better?" She asked, as his vision cleared.

He nodded, hands following hers to where they gripped the comforter and pulled it up over her shoulders, using it to reel her in for another kiss. "I feel as though I should thank you."

She wrinkled her nose, kissing him again before answering. "You can thank me for the hot chocolate, and the bed, and for keeping Banner from pulling the Veronica suit out and digging a hole in the backyard with your face before your brother could get here to explain things. But you don't get to thank me for the sex. Because it was awesome for me too."

Loki smiled a little at that. "Fair enough. And thank you."

"My pleasure. Literally." she said, rolling off of him as his softening cock slipped out. He didn't let her get far, catching her with one arm and keeping her flush against his side.

"Speaking of my brother… we should probably be getting dressed to go meet him."

Darcy wrinkled her nose distastefully again at the thought of ever moving out of this bed again. "Hey V?" she called in the vague direction of the ceiling. "Do you have an ETA on Thor and Company?"

"Thor, Captain Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff are due to arrive in three hours and forty seven minutes, Ms. Lewis." came the prim, mechanical reply.

"Mmm… Hear that? Almost a whole four hours. Sleep time." Darcy said, diving back down into the pillows and throwing her arm over Loki's chest. "Wake us with enough time for a shower, would you V?"

"I've set a… generous alarm for you, Ms. Lewis."

Darcy snorted. "Thanks V!"

"My pleasure, Ms. Lewis."

Loki sighed the sigh of the truly contented and sank back into the mattress, lacing his fingers through Darcy's where they had been tracing patterns on his chest. His eyes fluttered closed, and if Darcy wasn't mistaken, he was asleep again in mere moments.

But Darcy, even in her lazy post-double-orgasm haze, stayed awake a little while longer, stroking his knuckles and just… watching. It made her feel a little like Edward Cullen, but she suddenly understood the appeal… consent issues aside of course.

She recalled the surreality of the sensation from earlier while they were merrily fucking away. How meek and powerless he'd seemed, and how she'd bought into it even though she knew for a fact it wasn't true in the slightest. It was such a strange place that she'd found herself in, and she imagined it couldn't be any less strange for Loki. Even without the sex. 

And then there was the sex.

Jesus. How on Earth did they get here?

But Darcy knew the answer because she knew herself. She remembered how he'd looked when she'd first seen him. Torn leather. Haggard expression. Circles under his eyes that were worse than Darcy's ever could have been… even during finals that one semester when she took twenty one credit hours. That had been the start of it, because once she'd really looked, she couldn't look away. She couldn't unsee how drawn and exhausted he'd been. He needed help and… Well, she just wanted to help him. Against all logic and reason. She wanted to bring the traitorous god of mischief in out of the cold and give him warm things to drink and tuck him in bed…

And fuck him, apparently.

But she could help him. That was the thing. And unlike everything else over the last couple of dreadful weeks, it wasn't just about having something to do. She realized she _could_ do something in this situation. It wasn't swing a lightning hammer or fly around blowing up bad guys or outsmarting someone's cunning covert machinations. But she could do something. She could do this. She could do marshmallows, and comforters, and really good morning sex that chased away all the stormy shadows that seemed to collect behind Loki's eyes. Because they were going to need him to fix all this. And they were going to need him unbroken and unafraid. Of that much she was certain. And he would need a place to retreat to when the inevitable suspicions of the others got to be too much. At least until he'd proven himself.

And he would. These things just took time. Not everyone would be as quick to jump in bed with Loki, figuratively of course.

It wasn't just something to do, she realized, laying her cheek against his chest and hearing the sleepy thump of his heart. This wasn't getting coffee, or watching useless satellite feeds. This wasn't just… something to do.

This was _her_ something.

***

_Everything's fine in the morning._   
_The rain'll be gone in the morning._   
_But I'll still be here in the morning._

***


	2. Before the Storms Begin Breaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Darcy?" Loki's voice drifted up from behind her, making Darcy jump a little before she turned. "Sorry to startle you. I was hoping you'd still be up here." With an apologetic look in his pale eyes, he proffered a mug to her which she took, scooting over and making room for him on the couch. "I brought you something. They didn't have any marshmallows at the bar, but the bartender did have a suggestion of something a little more… appropriately celebratory to put in the mix."
> 
> Darcy took a long, warm sip. The bright scent of peppermint tickled its way up into her nose and the taste of rich chocolate coated her tongue. She blinked twice after she swallowed, nearly dumbstruck.
> 
> "You brought me hot chocolate." she said the surprise in her voice sounding lame in her own ears.
> 
> "With peppermint liqueur. You looked like you needed it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings all! Happy *checks calendar*... TUESDAY! I almost made it by Monday! Oh well...
> 
> Welcome to another chapter of my Darcy/Loki fic. When I first wrote "The Rain'll Be Gone in the Morning" it wasn't my intention to write another chapter, but I had so many requests for more that I couldn't leave it alone. And also, this fic was originally written for musicnerd88 and she just had a birthday so all the more reason for... well... more!
> 
> A special thank you to my beta readers @kaminaduck and musicnerd88!
> 
> And a big thank you to everyone who read and commented on the first chapter. This installment only exists because so many of you asked for more. So thank you for your support and kind words. I can't tell you how much it means to me.
> 
> I do think this is going to be it for this particular story though. I usually like to write within canon, and obviously this isn't going to work with what's coming in Endgame, so I think I'll be leaving it here after this.
> 
> Thank you again! Enjoy!

***

_I would like to infect you with the excitement of_  
_Living because you are strong enough to bear it._

_There is a hollowness in you like a preface to_  
_Spring, the hollow cup of the year before the_  
_Storms begin breaking._

_There is white sky and nothing yet in it, not even_  
_The little red tissue-paper kites of enquiring passion._

_You sit here quiescent, waiting, and I would like_  
_To infect you suddenly with the great, intense_  
_Excitement that comes of self-recognition, of knowing_  
_The fact of your being, your rising at morning and_  
_Being yourself again after night, after dreams, after_  
_Temporary cessation._

_-Tennessee Williams_

_***_

The reunion of Thor and Loki the following morning had been a shockingly tender and tearful thing. The very moment their arms were around each other, the two of them had cried like… well, like humans. Like children. Like family.

Upon swift and rather self-reprimanding reflection, Darcy wasn't sure why that surprised her. Almost immediately upon his appearance on the roof of Avengers HQ, Loki had eagerly asked after his brother. And Thor had been exuberant upon seeing Loki's face through the comm screen. And less than three hours prior, Loki had been laid out in Darcy's bed, timidly asking if the storm that had frightened him from sleep had passed. And then kissing and fucking her senseless. And then he had thanked her for not being an ass, basically. For helping him find his brother, and for understanding that he was traumatized, and tired, and just wanted to rest. So of course, it would be an emotional moment when the two of them finally saw each other again.

And to her credit, Darcy had given him what he'd needed last night. Or she'd done her best to. And her best had looked like hot chocolate, and a blanket fort to shelter from the storm, and really, really good sex. And apparently that had been enough, because his posture and the light in his eyes had been different this morning. He seemed brighter. Less worn and tired and more… hopeful, perhaps?

But she still had to admit that, even in spite of the evidence, she'd wondered what their reunion would be like. If Thor and Loki would be standoffish and formal, sounding like a pair of Royal Shakespeare Company actors. She wondered if old grudges, some of which were admittedly not that old, would rear their heads. And if not between the brothers, then between Loki and Steve… or Natasha. Oh, sweet Jesus. After what Loki did to Hawkeye? Could they be in the same zip code let alone the same room together without risk of bloodshed? Shit…

But instead, from moment one it was bear-hugs and emotional exclamations of relief between the two brothers. Steve and Natasha lagged behind and looked on with tired smiles, content to be forgotten for a minute. Darcy watched it all from a respectful distance, up on the mezzanine rail overlooking the glass atrium. She watched as Loki's eyes sparkled with relief as he sagged into his brother's arms laughing tearfully. As Steve and Natasha let out a sigh that they both seemed to be holding in together. As there was joy for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Darcy looked on from what suddenly and sharply felt like a million miles away as they were together at last. As her goal from the previous evening was accomplished. As Loki smiled...

Darcy felt something rake uncomfortably across her heart watching them. She'd expected to be smiling herself. To be glad. She'd shored up Loki long enough to get him to his brother. That had been her task, and she'd done it, shockingly enough. She'd actually accomplished something that wasn't just an endless cycle of what basically amounted to chores. A cycle that had more or less been the whole of her life since the Snap. She should feel proud. Accomplished. Good job, Darcy. Congrats on the therapy-sex, and the blanket fort, and the marshmallows. It actually worked. You aren't completely useless after all.

But she felt none of those things, save maybe the useless bit. She felt something caustic and clawed worming around in her gut… as green as Loki's magic…

Resentfulness, she realized with no small amount of galled shock. A strange sort of serpentine bitterness at the raw fact that Loki was not hers to keep. Not hers to wrap in her faded, lumpy comforter, and feed marshmallows, and make a show of from storms. He didn't need her anymore by the looks of things. She had been a stepping stone. Just a temporary fix to keep the boat afloat until it could reach shore. She knew that… or she should have known that going in. But some not-so-small part of her definitely resented it.

Darcy blinked hard, and her face crumpled into a frown, mostly at herself. It was the most ridiculous thing in the world… to feel put out under these circumstances. It was a moment to celebrate, however strange and nigh miraculous. Someone had survived Thanos! That meant there was hope. And the Asgardian brothers were together again, and just maybe Loki might be able to give them some insight into how to undo this whole hot mess! Woohoo! Right?

Right…?

And yet there it was. Plain as day. There was no denying it. Darcy felt awful. And she felt awful about feeling awful. She had accomplished something for a change. She hadn't been completely useless. But now she was again, and in short, she didn't like that very much.

But those feelings were gone as quickly as they came, because she realized Thor was smiling up at her and waving.

"Darcy! My friend! It is good to see you!" he called up to her.

She felt a sunny smile of her own creep over her face, chasing the storm clouds of her previous thoughts from her mind. How could anyone not smile around Thor, after all? He had that "precious labrador puppy" effect, and you just wanted to mush his stupidly cute face whenever he did literally anything.

At least that's how Darcy felt anyway. But she settled on the much less ridiculous approach of bounding down the steps two at a time and jumping off the third from the bottom for Thor to catch her. He swung her around a few times as if she were no more than a tiny child… like how her father would wing her about when she was a kid and wanted to play helicopter...

Her father…

Sigh.

Would she ever get to keep anything nice for more than a minute?

Thor must've seen the shadows flicker across her face. "You're well, my friend?" he asked gently setting her down. Which obviously was post-Snap Thor-speak for "Who did you lose?" Everyone had their soft way of saying it without saying it. Almost like a secret code.

"Family's dust." she shrugged, not quite able to move out of his bubble just yet. "All of them." It was still easy to say right then. She was waiting for the day to come when it suddenly wasn't. Or dreading it, more like. But it hadn't come yet.

"I'm sorry, my friend." Thor said earnestly. And Darcy chose that moment to look behind him, spying Natasha and Steve still lingering in the atrium entrance. It seemed as though Thor's apology had settled over both their shoulders like a sodden blanket. Steve wore guilt and contrition well, but on Natasha it looked like an itchy wool sweater, three sizes too small.

Darcy felt a strange urgency flower in her heart at the sight. "No, it's…" She realized her mouth had gotten ahead of her brain when she discovered that she had absolutely nothing comforting to say. So instead she settled for her best try at inspiring. "We're gonna fix this, yeah? I mean… we're all gonna try. That's why we're here and not… not somewhere else." Ugh, she sounded so lame...

But to her surprise, Steve squared his shoulders a little at her words, and Natasha followed suit, like a waifish shadow. Thor and Loki both nodded at the sentiment, and Darcy found she felt just a little bit better now that they weren't all moping and sad. Dogged determination was better than depression any day. It was pretty much all anyone was running on at this point anyway.

"Come on." She urged, fixing her feet to the ground and grabbing hold of that sense of urgency. "Let's get you guys settled back in here, and I'll get started on some breakfast. Then, we'll catch up properly, yeah?"

There were nods all around before the four heroes dutifully followed Darcy upstairs.

Fifteen minutes later, Darcy was in the communal kitchen merrily toasting waffles hand over fist as eggs and sausage sizzled in a pan next to her. The compound had a full-service kitchen, but she felt overwhelmed by the desire to actually cook breakfast for everyone. Or perhaps more accurately she wanted something to do, and cooking breakfast made the most sense at the moment.

The bright sound of things sizzling away along with the bubble and hiss of the coffee pot helped to drown Darcy's lingering guilt at her reaction to seeing Thor and Loki greet each other. It was as though she chafed at the very thought of being displaced. But displaced from where? From less than twelve hours of playing therapist and fuck-buddy?

No. She wasn't thinking about this. She'd had a job last night, and she'd done it. She'd given Loki what he needed, and now that was done. And furthermore, she was done feeling this way. There were bigger fish to fry than her feeling a little irrationally put out right now. And speaking of frying, she needed to pay attention to the new job she'd given herself or she was going to burn the sausage.

"Smells good." Steve's easy Brooklyn accent called from the far side of the kitchen.

"Hey Steve." Darcy said without looking back, though she tossed a smile over her shoulder. "Thanks. Should be some ready if you're hungry."

"I'll wait for the others, but thank you." he replied politely. She could hear the tired smile in his voice, and it made her ache.

"Well, you should at least get yourself a cup of coffee while you wait." She gestured at the coffee-maker with her elbow. "I just made it."

"Ooh, that I think I will do." He said, coming to stand next to her and fish a mug out of the cupboard. It was Darcy's Hufflepuff mug, and she had to try very hard not to giggle. She didn't even know if Steve Rogers had read Harry Potter. "I've missed your coffee these last couple of years."

Darcy actually felt herself blush a little as she laughed. "Yeah, don't imagine you had many opportunities for Starbucks runs while you were on the run yourself."

"You are not wrong." He replied, pouring himself a generous mug.

An uncomfortable silence spread through the kitchen like an oil slick, punctuated only by the pop and hiss of the fresh sausage Darcy had just dumped into her pan. Darcy was sort of used to this with Steve. Not that he himself was uncomfortable to be around. He was always warm and easy-going when he wasn't in mission mode. But Darcy was just never quite sure what to say to him. What was there for them to talk about, after all?

"So, you were the one that found Loki." Steve said conversationally as he searched the fridge for the cream.

Darcy nodded, pressing her lips together and keeping her eyes on the skillet. "Yep." she replied, her voice far too tight and high. Oh boy, this was going to be awkward. She braced herself for Steve's lethal "I'm mildly disappointed in you" face, accompanied by some form of gentle chastisement for the painfully evident stupidity of her actions.

But neither the look nor the reprimand ever came.

"That was really brave." he said instead.

Darcy froze mid-motion over the toaster with a waffle in her hand. Did she hear that right? Brave? Her? She was pretty sure her ears were ringing, and she had to physically shake herself to rattle loose a coherent response. "Well… I mean y'know. If you'd have seen him..." she half mumbled as she loaded the waffles into the toaster.

"He looked rough?"

"Like he'd been through Hell." Darcy replied, moving back to the stove to tend the eggs, gesturing with a wooden spoon as she went. "And I mean technically he had. The Norse version anyway. He used Helheim as an escape hatch basically… to get away from Thanos. Nearly killed himself to do it. Or… let himself be killed? I'm not sure how all that portal magic stuff of his works."

"Incredible." Steve said, shaking his head. "Thor told us the story of what happened on their ship…"

"Yeah… they both got lucky in a way. Guess someone had to."

"He was really lucky you found him." Steve said. "Loki, I mean. Not everyone… would have listened to him. I probably wouldn't have."

"Well… I figured things couldn't get any worse so… what the hell, y'know?"

Steve nodded. "You're really brave." he said again, and Darcy had to remind herself to breathe as she watched him toast her with his mug. "And thank you for the coffee, by the way. And for breakfast. I needed this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."

"Y-you're welcome." Darcy stammered out. Her brain needed to reboot from being told she was brave by Captain Fucking America twice before she'd had her second cup of coffee. She certainly didn't feel brave. She'd felt desperate at the time. It wasn't like she had any options but talking and listening. Just… she really didn't know how to feel about that being called brave. She increasingly didn't know how to feel about any of this, apparently.

But she knew how to make scrambled eggs. So she was going to do that. "Thanks." she settled on saying, hoping her smile didn't look too flustered. "And you're welcome. Have all you want. I'll make more."

The rest of the super-people started to filter into the kitchen, including Rhodey and Bruce, and they all shared polite, if bland conversation while they practically inhaled breakfast. Mostly talk had consisted of Bruce and Rhodey filling everyone in on their search for Tony, and Natasha and Steve telling crazy stories about their antics for the last two years, and talking about how amazing Wakanda was. Darcy was definitely asking to be taken there once everything calmed down. She'd happily be the coffee girl for Shuri's lab. It sounded amazing.

Loki for the most part was quiet as he ate, though Darcy would occasionally catch a flick of his pale eyes in her direction. At first she ignored him. Not out of malice or irritation, but because she could still feel that strange possessive resentment circling low in her thoughts, and she didn't want to give it reason to rear its head. But when she did finally will herself to catch his eye, the world seemed to stop spinning for a second. She felt herself smile at him, and he returned the expression, bumping her knee with his under the table before returning his attention to Steve, who was telling them about an op in Laos that had quite unexpectedly turned up a veritable viper's nest of HYDRA agents. And Darcy was just left to silently flounder.

Eventually, the conversation lulled as everyone cleaned their plates and a few went back for second or third cups of coffee. On a wild impulse, Darcy took Loki's mug when she got up for a refill, only realizing after she'd made it to the coffee pot that she had no idea how the God of Mischief took his coffee.

She turned back. "Loki, how-"

"However you like yours." he replied with a kind smile before she could finish the question.

She gave an awkward nod and turned back to the counter. She didn't even look up, afraid to see that someone had marked the strangeness of that whole exchange.

"We have had precious little to celebrate of late." Thor said, sitting back in his chair, balancing his own mug on his broad chest. "But I think it's all the more reason we should be glad my brother has survived Thanos's attack on our ship. And so… I propose that we should have revels this evening. Nothing too big or fanciful. But some food and company might do us good, considering all that's happened. We've lost much, but we haven't lost everything." Thor clapped Loki on the shoulder hard enough to shake his whole frame, but Loki smiled at the gesture.

Darcy did too, and hoped it didn't look like she was just showing her teeth.

Rhodey inclined his head consideringly. "I could do with a night off."

"I think we all could." Steve agreed. "The staff. The assistants. Everyone."

"Twist my arm." Natasha said with a dry grin.

"Yeah, but… not to be a killjoy, but what about the signal?" Bruce pointed out. "We've got around-the-clock surveillance watching for Tony. Who's-"

"Let's just put Veronica on it." Steve suggested.

"Since we aren't 100% sure what we're looking for, it's better to have an actual human on this end." Bruce explained with a shrug.

"I'll babysit it." Darcy said a little too quickly.

"Darcy." Thor said, a little twinge of disappointment in his voice.

"No, it's fine. Someone's got to, and I need less of a break than you guys do anyway."

"You'll still be there though… won't you?" Loki asked, the question making his silvery eyes turn glassy.

Darcy felt as if Thor had struck her between the eyes with his hammer. "Yeah… yeah I'll be there." She said, because like hell was she denying him anything when he asked like that. And truth be told, something in her preened to be asked. To be wanted. "I'll be there. I'll just have to keep an eye on the signals with my laptop."

That seemed to mollify him somewhat, and he bumped her knee with his under the table again.

Thor slapped his hand on the tabletop, rattling the dishes slightly. "Then it's settled then! Revels this evening and work tomorrow."

"Assuming we don't all have hangovers." Rhodey muttered. "Oh that's right… none of you assholes get hangovers."

There was a round of laughter at that as they all started clearing the table.

***

Turned out that Clint Barton had left a sizeable barbeque grill at Avengers HQ before he "retired," and it also turned out that Rhodey and Natasha made a hell of a barbeque pit crew. They raided the HQ kitchen stores so there were grilled sausages, whole halves of chicken, and even some shrimp all flame broiled and wonderful. Apparently, it also turned out that Natasha Romanoff knew how to make the best barbeque sauce north of the Carolinas. Would wonders never cease?

Apparently they wouldn't, because as the night progressed and everyone started to unwind, Darcy got to watch from her perch as each of the Avengers emerged little by little from their grief-stricken cocoons. Rhodey and Cap got into a heated karaoke battle with Natasha as the sole judge. Banner was actually socializing with some of the lab techs instead of being his usual reclusive self, and to their credit, none of the techs looked like they thought he might turn green at any given moment.

And Thor… he was thoroughly enjoying being with his brother again. The two of them were in their own little dimension of time and space, talking and laughing as if no one else in the room existed. Darcy couldn't hear them from up on the second floor of the atrium, but she could tell they were fiercely and animatedly telling story after story of who knew what sort of insane Asgardian antics...

She still wasn't used to seeing Thor in person with the new haircut. She had to admit it was an adjustment. Darcy would hardly be one to shy away from copping to the fact that she would miss his lovely corn yellow tresses, but she would also admit to being of the opinion that somehow his close-cropped hair was more befitting of a god-king. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

And he really was king of Asgard now… or whatever was left of it…

Was she looking at what was left of it? That was a horrifyingly sad thought...

Maybe she shouldn't have opted to actually babysit the signals where she could see all of this. She certainly wouldn't have, if not for that promise she made to Loki. Maybe she could sneak out soon. She'd only promised to be here… not how long she would stay. And honestly, she was just being a fucking killjoy. A thundercloud over the whole proceeding, even though everyone was doing a bangup job ignoring her. She supposed she was grateful.

That sick sort of anxious envy still coiled like a snake in her gut, and she hated herself for it. She'd done good, she kept telling herself. She'd accomplished what she'd set out to do. So why did it make her feel so rotten now that it was done? She was beginning to understand why Steve had always seemed to jump from mission to mission back when he still operated out of Avengers HQ.

With that in mind, she flicked through the channels on her laptop to check all the signals again. Just in case the alert had sounded and she'd missed it while being lost in self-loathing thoughts. Though it was really just to have something to do. Something to distract her from feeling so pitiful.

The sounds coming up from below seemed to shift, and she looked back down at the party again. The karaoke war seemed to be over for now. Natasha and Rhodey had joined Thor and Loki in the big circle of couches. And Steve had drifted off to catch up with Bruce. Some of the staff seemed to have called it a night, but a few were still lingering around picking at the buffet table. But Darcy only really had eyes for Loki, and in her desperation to find some relief from the awful, gnawing emptiness in her gut she watched him for a moment.

Maybe it was her imagination, but Darcy could see him fading at the edges, now that the others had joined the conversation. Apprehension and displacement were making him grow old and tired again before her eyes. She wanted to go to him. To put her hand on his shoulder, or maybe even in his hair. But just as these thoughts were whispering through her mind, Thor clapped a hand on Loki's back, drawing a beaming smile from his brother and banishing any shadows Darcy might or might not have seen.

She ground her back teeth together as she turned back to the laptop and clicked refresh, despite the fact that it refreshed automatically every sixty seconds.

It was just to have something to do. She needed something to do right now.

She was beginning to think she'd made a mistake. Not in bringing him in… fuck no. Given how well things turned out, she'd never ever regret that in a million years. But she was beginning to think it had been a mistake to sort of… meet him there in that moment. To make that deeper connection. To be something he actually needed. Having him… having that responsibility only to have it taken away again was eating her up, and the last thing she wanted to do was make things worse for everyone.

Darcy squared her shoulders and kept her eyes glued to her computer, manually refreshing the signals again. And forcing her jaw to relax. She really needed to get over this bullshit, and fast. Life was not about to get any easier for any of them.

"Darcy?" Loki's voice drifted up from behind her, making Darcy jump a little before she turned. "Sorry to startle you. I was hoping you'd still be up here." With an apologetic look in his pale eyes, he proffered a mug to her which she took, scooting over and making room for him on the couch. "I brought you something. They didn't have any marshmallows at the bar, but the bartender did have a suggestion of something a little more… appropriately celebratory to put in the mix."

Darcy took a long, warm sip. The bright scent of peppermint tickled its way up into her nose and the taste of rich chocolate coated her tongue. She blinked twice after she swallowed, nearly dumbstruck.

"You brought me hot chocolate." she said the surprise in her voice sounding lame in her own ears.

"With peppermint liqueur. You looked like you needed it."

"I'm alright." She said automatically, though she didn't bother to hide a grateful smile as she took another sip. "But I definitely appreciate it."

Loki regarded her, looking wholly unconvinced, before leaning his elbows on the railing and staring down at their comrades below. They were both quiet for awhile. Darcy distracted herself by checking the signals that she'd checked and refreshed less than two minutes prior. She didn't really read any of the results. It was all just empty, distracting motion.

"Some of them still don't trust me." he said finally, the words drifting on the air like bits of dust.

"It'll take a few of them awhile, I imagine." she said lifting one shoulder. "I mean… Let's be real here. We should probably all be glad Clint Barton wasn't here last night."

He snorted and shook his head before he turned his piercing stare to her again. "Why didn't it take you awhile?"

Darcy didn't have an answer for that so she just shrugged again, eyes still on her computer screen.

"I can hear them whispering, even if they aren't actually saying anything." Loki said, hanging his head a little. "They are waiting for me to betray them. It is in my nature, after all."

"Is it?" Darcy asked, a little more brazenly than she'd meant to. "You're not the God of Betrayal, remember. You're the God of Mischief."

Loki blinked at her, a slow cat-like motion that cut his pointed regard of her. And to her credit, she didn't quail under the weight of his gaze. Much.

"You believe there is a difference." Loki said softly. "With all you've seen of me."

Darcy wet her lips and willed her voice to be smooth and even. She mostly succeeded. "I don't believe I've seen even most of you." she answered with tactful measure.

Loki sighed as he joined her at her little sofa-based workstation. "I'm still a little in awe that you even gave me even a moment's consideration last night." he admitted. "After all the screaming, I mean. You were very brave all things considered."

Darcy snorted as she took another sip of her hot chocolate. "You know, you're the second person to say that to me today."

"Who was the other?"

"Steve Rogers."

Loki looked impressed. "Indeed? And what did the valiant Captain America have to say?"

"That he thought I was brave." Darcy replied, the words coming out slow. As if she was still willing herself to believe he'd said those words even as she repeated them aloud. "And that not everyone would have listened to you."

"Not even the great and just Captain America would have given me a chance." Loki said mocking his own despair.

"To be fair, you can't really blame them after New York. It wasn't a stellar first impression. But look... " Darcy reached over and took his hand. "You said it yourself… you're responsible for a lot of how they view you. Yeah?"

He just nodded morosely.

"That's actually kind of a big thing to admit if you think about it. There are a lot of legitimately shitty people who never make it even that far." Darcy pointed out. "And… not to sound all super-self-help-tape or anything… but if you have the power to make them think one thing about you, then you've got the power to undo it too. Or change it."

Loki cut her a look that was equal measures of hope and skepticism.

"I'm not saying it will be easy." Darcy went on when he didn't immediately argue. "And I'm not saying it will happen overnight. But just… give it some time and effort. You'll get there. You've… you've only just gotten here."

Loki nodded, visibly turning the advice over in his head for a moment. "But I still don't understand something, Darcy. Why did you trust me? Why do you trust me now? Trust that I'm going to somehow turn this all around. Why isn't it going to take time and effort with you?"

She toasted him with her mug. "Hot chocolate goes a long way down the road to forgiveness." They both laughed a little, but Loki didn't look away. His level and unwavering gaze implored her to really answer the question. Darcy took another long, thoughtful sip of her hot chocolate before she finally sorted out enough words to attempt an answer. "I don't really know, to tell you the truth. I admit I kinda panicked when I first saw you."

"So I gathered from all the screaming." Loki cut in dryly.

"I… honestly didn't have a lot of choices." Darcy replied. "It was call for help and hope you didn't turn me into cat food before someone managed to get up on the roof to help, or talk to you. But you… I just felt like I wanted to help. You weren't… you weren't acting like you were going to kill us all, so…" She just let the statement trail off into a half-shrug.

"That in and of itself could have been the act." Loki pointed out.

"Yeah, I thought of that at the time." She acceded. "But I also thought… that well, if you want me, you've got me. Not a whole lot I could do about it even if I called Rhodey and Banner. They'd never make it in time to save me. So… better to go out trying to help you than accusing you of rolling up on our doorstep randomly spoiling for a fight. Because I couldn't find a way to make that make sense either."

Loki kept staring at her silently for a long time. "You thought there was a serious chance I might kill you, but you helped me anyway." he said, bewildered.

"Like I said," Darcy broke from his gaze to refresh the signal on her laptop. "Not a whole lot of options. And well… after a walking talking grape Flintstone vitamin dissolves half the population into ash, I've honestly become a bit of a pragmatist."

Loki huffed out a short cough of laughter and shook his head. Silence crept over them as he opted to watch her work for a moment. When she realized she had his attention, she quickly refreshed all the signals.

"You're looking for Stark." he said, eyes following the readouts.

She nodded. "Yup. We think he's out there somewhere."

"Do you have any reason to think he's still alive? It's been weeks."

It was Darcy's turn to give the long stare. "Again…" she said softly. "Not a whole lot of options at the moment. He left in a ship. There's a chance that either he or some of the people he left with are still alive. That's about it."

"Just a chance? Just hope?"

"Yep. Just hope."

There was a beat of weighted silence.

"What do you hope for now, Darcy Lewis?" Loki asked, watching her face in the dim light of the laptop.

She sighed, returning her eyes to the code scrolling on her computer screen. She could feel what she wanted, dark and formless but real and lurking just behind her teeth. But she swallowed it, both figuratively and not, and opted for a shrug. "I don't know." she replied, her voice tight around the words.

Loki nodded a little, seeming to let the crawling bars and numbers hypnotize him for a moment before he licked his lips and asked, "May I stay in your room again tonight?"

Darcy could've been knocked over with a feather for how plainly the question was worded, and for how many other needs were threaded onto that simple request. She looked up at him and saw that same look from the previous night. Sure he looked… healthier. There was color in his cheeks and a fullness to his features that he'd lacked when he first arrived on her doorstep, quite literally half-dead. But beneath that, he looked hollowed and tired and inexplicably ancient. And something in her leapt at the sight. Not in excitement or in glee… more in a desire for action. An eagerness to help.

Something to do.

Something she wanted to do.

For him. Specifically.

"Of course. If you'd like." came her quick reply. "I was thinking of blowing this popsicle stand pretty soon anyway… so you could just come up whene-"

"I'll follow you."

"Alright then." Darcy gave another curt little nod and started packing up her things. "You sure they won't miss you?" she asked. "It is sort of your party after all."

"I told my brother I was retiring and I would see him in the morning." Loki answered as he got to his feet.

Darcy spared a moment as she was packing up to wonder if Loki had told them where he'd intended on staying. Oh well. She'd find out in the morning. Unless Loki had said something out of her hearing, as far as she knew no one was the wiser as to exactly how she'd comforted the demi-god during the storm last night. But it would be hard to hide it tomorrow without discussing it first. And she didn't want to discuss it, frankly. But there was also some defiant part of herself that didn't want to hide this.

Maybe then she'd finally get the "You've disappointed Captain America." stare from Steve. She certainly felt like she deserved it for how well she was handling this.

She polished off her mug of hot chocolate as much for courage as for comfort, and left it on the upstairs bar as they departed. But not before pausing a moment to press the handle to her heart. He'd brought her hot chocolate. Perhaps it was simple reciprocation. But Darcy couldn't help but hope it was also in further invitation.

Once they made it to her room, Darcy set up the laptop again on her bedside table. She was technically still on duty til morning, so she needed to keep an eye on the feed. Or at least be where she could hear the chime if one of the signals got a response.

She headed to her chest of drawers for some pajamas but stopped halfway across the room. "Oh shit, I still don't have any pajamas for-" She'd turned to find Loki had magically traded his clothes from the party for the same dark silk pajama set from the previous evening, giving her a little ta-da gesture in response. "Right." she said with a soft laugh. "Don't suppose you-"

She had been in the middle of making a vague gesture to her own clothes when Loki gave a rather theatrical wave of his hand. Thin tendrils of acid green light snaked over her body, transforming her jeans and oversized sweater into the flowing nightgown from the night before. Somehow it felt even softer this time as the green silk ate up the heat of her skin. "That really is a neat trick." she said, unable to resist giving a little Julie Andrews twirl just to watch the fabric spin out.

"I'm full of them." Loki replied, something of that old cocky grin flitting across his face. Darcy remembered that look, and it gave her chills, though not for the reason one might think.

"Do you want the bed or-"

"Only if you're in it." came the quick reply, as if he'd anticipated her deference. Anticipated it, and was having none of it.

"Right." Darcy said again, feeling dumb. She reached over and fluffed the rumpled comforter before turning back the covers and easing into bed. "Least there's no storm to keep us up tonight."

"Provided my brother doesn't have too much ale." Loki mused as he climbed in behind her.

"I'm sure Steve will keep him in check." She said, as they both settled into bed together.

For a space they just stared at each other, each on their own pillow and in their own little bubble of space. They'd hardly touched all day, and now to Darcy any action just felt awkward. Should they scoot closer together… stay farther apart? God, she was never going to be able to sleep like this, all knotted up inside with these weird emotions and him right fucking there in-

"What is it, Darcy?" Loki asked, his voice soft and velvety. "You've been… acting odd since breakfast."

Darcy felt a tendril of guilt-ridden panic wind around her stomach. Should she just confess? Lying seemed like a terrible idea, but so did fessing up to the fact that she'd been feeling weirdly possessive of Loki ever since his brother arrived. How could she even begin to explain herself?

"It's alright." Loki encouraged, his hand finding her waist under the covers.

To hell with it. Honesty it was. Like she could lie to the Trickster himself anyway.

"Last night was… intense." she said, the admission coming out syrup slow, as if she had to prise each word one at a time from behind her teeth. "And that's saying something because… it's been an intense couple of weeks."

Loki's brow pinched as he listened, and instantly all Darcy wanted to do was stop talking and smooth that look from his beautiful face. He should never look like that. Not again, and not ever, and certainly not because of anything she ever said. But she didn't do that. And she didn't stop talking. He had asked for an answer and she wanted to give him what he wanted. So she licked her lips and made herself keep going, though she did let him pull her closer. It was easier to talk when they were closer. When she could feel his shadow across her face.

"I've basically spent the last two weeks burying myself in work. And not even really work. More like chores. Simple tasks. Just… stuff to keep myself busy so I don't go fucking insane. Because this stuff with the Snap is just… it's bigger than me. But I want to help. And I can help. But it just doesn't feel like much, and… I'm rambling." she cut herself off.

But she felt a squeeze around her middle from Loki's arm, and his knuckles pressed lightly against her cheek. "Take your time, Darcy." There was that frown again… a softly pinched expression of concern that she wanted to smooth it away from his face on sight. Or maybe kiss it away...

She took a breath, feeling her ribs press against his arm where he hugged her close. "And then you showed up."

"And scared the daylights out of you." Loki filled in with a contrite smile that she mirrored.

"And scared the daylights out of me." she agreed. "And I just… I felt like for a split second that I could do more than just… I don't know. Run in a hamster wheel? Like… I felt like I could help you."

"You did." Loki said, smoothing his hand over her cheek.

"I just… I didn't like that it was over so quickly, I guess. It's sort of stupid and self-centered." she stopped and gave her head a smart shake. "Not even sort of stupid and self-centered. A lot stupid and self-centered. But just… it was nice to actually feel needed. To… to actually feel like i was doing something."

Loki stared at her for a long time, pale eyes glinting in the dappled darkness of her room. And Darcy could feel the shame slowly rising to color her cheeks. She was about to roll out of bed and see herself out to the much deserved couch when Loki leaned forward and placed a warm kiss on her forehead.

"I still need you." he said, the words humid against her skin.

She shook her head, refusing to look up. "No, you don't. Your brother is here."

Loki hooked one slender finger under her chin and drew her face up to his. "I love my brother dearly." He said, his eyes going flinty in the dim light. "But you have given me something no one else really has."

"You mean you really didn't have hot chocolate on Asgard?" Darcy asked, earning herself a musical bit of laughter.

"Well, that's true." He replied with a gentle smile. "But the point I was getting at was the fact that you didn't make me earn your aid. Or earn your trust. You helped me when you had no reason to. And every reason to run." He traced the arch of her cheekbone as he spoke, the words coming out reverent and soft in the shadowed space between them. "Darcy… I felt safe. For the first time in ages. Before Thanos was anything more than a whispered rumor. I felt trusted. You trust me even now. Even more than my own brother. And… I need that Darcy. If… If I'm to become something more than I once was."

It was her turn to awkwardly blink and stare. "I can be that." she said lamely. She rather roughly swallowed down her gratitude at being given such a charge, even though that wasn't truly what he'd said. It's what she was telling herself. "I can be that."

Loki tipped his head down and pressed his lips over hers. Darcy inhaled, the cool scent of secret places and old books washing over her as she let her head fall back to offer him unobstructed access to her mouth. He licked his way past her teeth, clever tongue plumbing the warm depths and smoothing over her tongue as well.

"Darcy…" Loki whispered her name against her parted lips, and Darcy felt as if her spine had turned liquid. She fell onto her back, pulling him with her as he caught her lower lip between his teeth. "I want you." He half-growled.

"I can think of no better place for me to be." Darcy replied, sinking her hands into his thick dark hair.

And like that they were both suddenly naked. A flash of green light, and they were instantly pressed skin to skin. And yet it wasn't enough somehow. Darcy gasped at the change, but only tried to press closer. Wrapping her legs around him. Pressing her throat against his open mouth. Digging her fingers into his shoulders.

"Darcy…" he breathed her name again, pressing it to the galloping pulse in her neck. Darcy didn't think she'd ever get tired of hearing him moan her name like that.

"Loki…" she didn't sound nearly as sexy in her own ears. She sounded winded and desperate, but to be fair both were true. "Let me… let me make you feel good." She said, snugging her thighs around his waist.

"Not just yet." he replied, finding her wrists and gently pinning them to the bed as he shimmied down the mattress. "It's my turn to pleasure you."

"Oh fuck yes." Darcy gasped out as he spread her legs further and she helpfully angled her pelvis.

"Already getting wet." Loki arched an eyebrow at her before he leaned down and gave her flushed slit a slow, almost savoring lick. She moaned, a completely desperate sound. "And already making plenty of noise." he remarked, voice dripping with false nonchalance. "You're so wanton it's scandalous."

"Must take a lot to… fuck!" He was doing something with his tongue on her clit that had her squirming and cursing. "Must take a lot to scandalize you."

"I assure you," he replied between lazy, infuriating licks. "Your wantonness only enflames me."

"Does- does it now?"

He merely hummed in reply before cocking his head so that he could press the fullness of his open mouth against the lips of her pussy and suck. Darcy bowed up off the bed, forcing Loki to wind his arms around her hips and hold her still. It was like a vice grip, and Darcy felt compelled to struggle against it, if only to feel his strength contrasted to the soft, gentle heat of his maddening mouth. To feel how he could pin her in place as he painstakingly licked her open to suck on her clit.

She sank her hands into his hair again as he worked his clever tongue inside her pussy. She'd had some decent head in her life, but never anything like this. Never anything that was the perfect heady mix of pressure and suction and hot and wet. The speed was perfect. Everything was perfect and making her head turn comfortably fuzzy. She didn't really even need to do anything to get off… just lay there and feel his mouth on her and his tongue wriggling inside her as he braided sensations together, winding them up tighter and tighter in her core.

And then it was as if the braid snapped tight, and she was falling into blissful, liquid pleasure. She might've moaned his name, or cried out. But she didn't clutch him or grab his hair. She just went boneless under his mouth, shivering and shaking through the ecstasy until the tide of pleasure receded again.

"Holy shit…" Darcy sighed as she pawed limply for Loki to come back up where she could kiss him.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like another?" He asked, clearly pleased with himself. Darcy wanted to eat the smug smile off his flushed, slick lips.

"If I do that again, I'm pretty sure I'm going to pop a fuse or something." She said, settling him over her and knitting her fingers into his hair to draw him down for a kiss. He let her, smiling against her mouth as she licked past his teeth to taste herself on his tongue.

Loki's hips slotted down between her thighs, his hard length pressing against the soft pout of her pussy. She was so slick and warm from being eaten out that he couldn't resist grinding against it. That made Darcy smile her own little pleased smile.

"Now who's wanton?" She teased, letting her knees fall a little wider so that she could cant her hips up to rub against his cock.

"Darcy…" he whispered her name, his pale eyes falling closed.

"Well, go on then." She encouraged, hooking her ankles together behind his back and opening herself up to him further.

She was so wet and ready, and he was so incredibly hard that they didn't need hands to guide his length into her. Just a little curl of his hips at just the right angle, and he was sinking inside, as if her core had a gravity all its own. No resistance. No barrier. Nothing between him and the ravening heat of her body.

Darcy gasped when he breached her, and the reverence with which he whispered her name made something deep in her heart ache. She gathered him up with all her limbs, wrapping his frame in her smaller one as much as she could, as if he might fall apart at the slightest injury.

She would never let that happen, she recklessly and foolishly thought. As if she could prevent it just by wanting it. But she wanted it all the same. It was her job, after all.

"Darcy…" he whispered again, dropping his forehead to her chest.

She tipped his face up to hers, and Loki gazed up at her with an expression that could only be described as prayerful. A careful roll of his hips had her name spilling from his lips again as if it were the name of something holy. Darcy sank her hands into his soft dark hair, and covered his divinely whispering mouth with her own, tasting her name between his teeth as he thrust deeper and deeper.

"Is it too much to tell you," he said, raggedly breaking away from her mouth to kiss the words into her pulse. "That I've been thinking about this all day?"

"Really?" she asked with breathless incredulity.

"All day." he confirmed, nuzzling the line of her jaw. "I didn't know if…"

Darcy stopped him with her thumb over his lips before he could finish the statement. "You're always welcome here." she said with temerarious conviction. "If you've got nowhere else to be."

"I do not wish to be anywhere but here." He said with wide-eyed and wondering certainty.

Jesus God, she shouldn't like that, but she did. She liked being looked at as if she were a coveted puzzle. A divine curiosity. As if there were a certain distance between her and Loki, despite the filthy slide of his cock against her inmost places. It made Darcy feel small, but not in a powerless way. She felt collected. Contained, even. And not just a little bit cherished.

And needed. She was starved for that feeling, she realized. Did Loki know that? Could he be playing her to that tune?

No, she decided again. More quickly this time than ever before. That wasn't what was happening, and thinking that it was a possibility was not who she was. End of story.

She kissed him again, sucking his clever tongue into her mouth and feeling his hips pick up their pace in response. A ragged moan tore itself from his throat and she greedily swallowed it whole. She was hungry for it. The sound of Loki's unbridled want ignited a possessive streak in her, and now she happily let it burn. She cradled him against her as he rocked their hips together, his thrusts growing sharper and sharper.

"Darcy!" Her name was a sound of unalloyed need. She set her nails into his back which only seemed to inflame them both. Pressure was building down deep in her core, a sensation wrought of pure heat and desire. She rolled her hips up to meet each of his thrusts as their breathing grew more and more ragged. She was getting close, she realized. And so was he.

"Darcy, please!" Loki whined, as if she wouldn't give him the whole world… the whole universe… the skin off her back if he asked for it.

"I've got you, sweetheart." she crooned, her voice gone thin and whispery. "Go on…"

She felt something in him relax, as if he were relieved at her assurance. A few seconds later and he had drawn up taut over her, his back arching like a cat's as he thrust one last time and held his length inside of her. Darcy could feel the warmth spreading inside, flooding deep and viscous. She ground her hips down onto his pulsing length and just like that she was coming too. Bright stars burst across her vision as she rode out the waves of her orgasm with shivery, uncollected little thrusts. It was just as brilliant as the one before, but made all the better by Loki collapsing gratefully on top of her and burying his face against her throat.

They lay like that for a long time, breathing slowing and sweat cooling. Even when his cock slipped out of her and they could both feel that they were making a mess of the sheets, they didn't move. Neither wanted to be far from the other. Darcy just drank it in, petting Loki's hair and tracing the soft lines of his back and his shoulders, feeling him press into her touch.

"Thank you," Loki croaked, delicately kissing his way along her collar bones.

Darcy tucked a finger under his chin and made him look at her from where he'd laid his head on her breast. "That's the second time today you've thanked me, post-riotously good orgasm." she said with a gentle but bewildered smile. "What's up?"

Loki looked thoughtfully contrite for a moment. "You shouldn't trust me." he said. "I shouldn't have a place here, but you're giving me one anyway."

"I'm not the only one."

"No, but without your input… you said so yourself. Anyone else in this compound would have either run for help or commenced to pounding away at my face. You're the only reason I made it past the front door. Because you trust me, and you shouldn't."

"Well, I mean look at your brother. He clearly trusts you. I've never seen him look happier than when he realized you were alive."

Loki tilted his head. "He's not always trusted me, nor have I always given him reason to. Hell, there was a time when I thought him recklessly untrustworthy. But… he's always wanted the best for me. The best from me. And I have failed him, more often than not. But I'm not asking about him. I'm asking why you trust me, Darcy."

"Why shouldn't I? Right now, I mean." Darcy asked, rolling them both to their sides and out of the sticky spot. Bless Tony Stark and the fact that all the suites in Avengers HQ had California king size beds.

"Do you really need a list of my past transgressions?" Loki asked. "Even listing just the ones that involve you… we'll be here all night."

She tightened her arm around his waist. "We will be anyway." she said, pulling him in for a kiss that had him half-melted against her. "But my point is that while, yes, you've certainly put more than a few strikes by your name in a lot of people's books, that doesn't change the current facts. Or the facts that stood when you first showed up."

"What do you mean?"

"You turned up out of nowhere, looking for your brother. You looked half-dead and exhausted…"

"It could have been an act."

"But why?" Darcy asked. "Honestly, that's what made me stop and look twice. What in the hell were you going to do that would make our current sucktastic situation worse? And once I kind of settled on that… how could I not in good conscience help you? Look, the world sucks ass right now. The least I can do is make it suck a little less."

"Even for your enemy?"

"You're not my enemy, Loki." Darcy said, leaning forward and kissing his forehead. "You're my something at this point, I guess. But you're not my enemy."

Loki dropped his face against her breast bone and sighed, hiding himself in her shadow.

"I've got you." she whispered into the part of his hair. "For as long as you need me to."

"Thank you." he said again.

She didn't chide him for it this time. His gratitude was genuine and in a way, so was hers. She was grateful, in truth, for an equally weird and twisted reason. So there was no reason not to just let it settle. Darcy kissed the part of his hair again as they both curled closer together.

"Get some sleep," she whispered. "Somehow I think we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"You'll be there?"

She nodded, pulling the comforter up to their shoulders and using it to draw Loki even closer. "I got nowhere else to be."

***

Sometime before the sun came up, a strange sound roused Darcy from her slumber. But the first thing she really noticed was that she was spooning Loki again. His lithe frame was curled against hers with her arms pulled securely around his chest. One of them had actually turned numb from being pinned under his ribcage, not that she minded in the slightest. A small price to pay to wake up with her nose in his hair, and the whole world smelling of cool air and ancient stone.

But the sound… it was a strange sound that had caught Darcy's ear, and roused her from a very deep, post-orgasmic coma.

It was some sort of electronic chime. A noise she'd never really heard before. She sat up carefully in an attempt to not wake Loki, and blinked to clear her eyes, looking around the room and trying to find the source of the strange alarm. She rolled over, sleepily trying to get a fix on the sound when she realized it was coming from her nightstand.

It had been her laptop.

HOLY SHIT, IT HAD BEEN HER LAPTOP.

"Is that…" Loki's sleepy voice drifted up out of the dark as he half sat up.

Darcy scrambled for the computer, sending blankets and pillows flying. She cracked it open to reveal not just the scrolling signal data, but none other than Tony Stark's very scruffy face staring up at her.

"Oh hey it worked! Nebula, I actually got the video feed to go through! Holy shit, Lewis? Is that you?" he croaked, his face splitting in a bewildered smile. "Wow, you are not who I thought I'd see, but boy am I glad to see you!"

"Holy sweet fucking Christmas! Tony?!" She shrieked joyfully, quickly tugging the blankets up to hide anything scandalous.

"In the flesh! Where are you kiddo?" He asked.

"My room at Avengers HQ. In bed actually. It's like five in the morning here. We all take shifts watching the signal for you and-" Darcy felt the mattress shift behind her and she saw an equal shift in Tony's expression.

"Christ, is that Loki behind you, Lewis?" He asked, eyes going wide. He actually backed up from the screen a little, as if the Trickster might pounce on him through the video.

"Oh fuck." Darcy dropped her head for a second. "Yeah, look it's… a long story. He's… come over to our side. Y'know… your boss being a mass murdering maniac will do that."

"Yeah, I know a little something about that." Tony said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Wait hold up. Is he shirtless? Are you in bed? Jesus Christ, what the hell have I missed?"

"We've missed you, if it's any consolation." She said lightly.

His face split in a genuine smile then as he shook his head. "Likewise, Lewis. Very much likewise. You'll have to fill me in when I get there."

"There's a lot to fill you in on. And I'm sure the same can be said on your end."

"Not really. Everyone's dust except this cyborg chick named Nebula who showed up out of the blue. Which is funny because she is blue." Tony said, his eyes going sad and distant. Darcy pulled Loki's arm a little tighter around her shoulder. "We're trying to make it back in a ship we borrowed from some guy calling himself Starlord. Didn't figure he'd care since he currently fits in an ashtray as well. What about you guys?"

"Same story, basically. Fifty-fifty split."

Tony gave a sigh that sounded like it weighed a thousand pounds. "This is such a mess. But look… Strange had some insight from the Time Stone before everything went to hell. Something… something he said makes me think we haven't lost yet. That this is just a setback."

"I hope so." Darcy replied.

"And Nebula and Thanos had history to put it very very lightly. So… Maybe… I dunno."

"Look, how long do you think this signal will hold on your end?" Darcy asked, suddenly desperate to steer the conversation to something more practical.

"This ship has solar so we're good so long as I can see the sun." Tony answered. "Our more immediate concern is air, water, and food. In that order."

"How far out are you?"

"A year and change if my flawless calculations are correct. Can't even see the spots on Jupiter yet. But we'll start running short of the human-supporting stuff in a week or two. Still throwing math at that."

"Okay… okay, let me get everyone out of bed and down in the lab. We'll get you on the big screen and start talking about how to get your ass home."

"I love that story." Tony said with a perky smile. "It's my favorite."

"It's mine too. It's good to see your face, Stark."

"Likewise, Lewis."

"Hang on, okay?"

"Sure thing. I got nowhere else to be."

Darcy flipped her laptop closed and gave an excited little squeal. "Holy shit, he's alive!" She said arching back to kiss Loki before flinging off the blankets and diving for her chest of drawers. "Hey V!"

"Yes, Ms. Lewis?"

"Wake the gang up! We found Tony! Get them all down to the conference room and route the signal and video feed from my laptop to the big conference screen." She instructed, hopping on one leg as she pulled on a pair of yoga pants. "We got work to do!"

"Right away, ma'am. That's wonderful news."

"You're going to go find him?" Loki said.

Darcy looked up at him as she shoved a t-shirt down over her head. He was sitting up, sheets pooled around his slender waist. He looked small and lost all alone in that giant bed. "Someone's going to." She said, her movements slowing. "Not likely to be me."

"Then what are you planning to do?" he asked, cocking his head.

She gave a slow shake of her head as she pulled her hair free of the collar. "I honestly… hadn't thought further than just finding him. I'm sure they'll figure out something."

Loki nodded, mostly to himself. "You're not leaving?"

"Wasn't planning on it." she replied.

He looked up at her with those same tired, wounded eyes from the previous night. The ones that had searched the murmuring skies for his brother, and had timidly accepted hot chocolate with marshmallows, and had sweetly asked if the storm was gone. The eyes that had looked at her like she was the eighth wonder… like she was salvation itself.

"Stay with me?" He asked, with a timidness that cracked Darcy's heart.

Darcy blinked, feeling a smile work its way across her face. "Yeah." she said softly, coming to sit with him. "Yeah, okay. I got nowhere else to be." She cupped his chin in her hand and marveled as he leaned into the touch. "Come on. Let's get downstairs and figure out what we're doing next."

"We?" he said, rather hopefully, a sparkle of green painting its way down his body, dressing him in dark clothes.

"We." She confirmed, smiling and kissing him softly before grabbing his hand and her laptop and dragging him towards the door.

***

**Author's Note:**

> Come flail at me about all things MCU, Hannibal, Agents of SHIELD and whatever else strikes my fancy over on Tumblr at @littlethingwithfeathers.


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